


Leon Kuwata is an idiot and Leon Kuwata is also a ****ing genius

by xXPokefictionXx_isnt_that_bad_of_a_name



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-16 22:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 59,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21278408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXPokefictionXx_isnt_that_bad_of_a_name/pseuds/xXPokefictionXx_isnt_that_bad_of_a_name
Summary: A story about a moron who is occasionally the smartest mind Hope's Peak has ever seen dealing with murder, the blood, the fear, and the stains in a decently cool jacket, thankfully he has more of them in his drawer....Those stains were also never there to begin with, totally.Once upon a time called "Ultimate Judgement, Ultimate Deception, Ultimate Betrayal, Ultimate Riddle, Ultimate Defense, Ultimate Faith, Ultimate Life" but I like the new title better, and I feel it fits the "quality" of this fic.This entire story was written as I was trying to figure out how to write, so chapter quality varies and this isn't a particularly good story. I'm proud of most of it, and I think I've done Leon some decent justice (Post Chapter 2, anyway), but I'm not the one who gets to be the judge of that. That would be the jury of you, led by Supreme Chief Justice Monokuma.





	1. (Kill) To Survive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter is... rough, not to mention different. Around Chapter 3 or 4 is when I find the funky flow, here? It's very different. Significantly less detailed, for one, the grammar and general word choice is kinda bad, and there's a lot of directly named references rather than more subtle quotes... or just outright no references, which is probably most preferable, but you'll see the name of a Fire Emblem god or two in this chapter and the next. Leon makes fun of this later, because it was a dumb move.
> 
> I wouldn't even call this chapter essential, if you don't mind Part Skipping I'd be okay with you just cutting to the second chapter... aside from the one scene with Junko in this one, which is kind of required for the rest of the story. That's about it, though.
> 
> Inspiration for this chapter struck from just Danganronpa itself, the first game will always remain my favorite for the initial mystery and atmosphere, plus my personal love of the characters.

Kanon.

That's what was is that damn video, dragged away kicking and screaming. Kanon. Kanon Nakajima. Kanon Nakajima. Kanon Nakajima Kanon Nakajima Kanon Nakajima Kanon Kanon Kanon Kanon Kanon Kanon Kanon Kanon

What the hell. What the hell. How the fuck could this have happened? How!?

I-It's obviously fake! T-There's no goddamn way! No way anything would happen, the idiot was right, this is just an extended prank o-or some shit! Yeah! Y-Yeah!!! T-That has to be it!

It was weird that was what he was thinking as he banged his fist against the hunk of metal in front of him, over and over and over again. Perhaps it was ironic, or funny even, but The Baseball Star certainly didn't know OR care. Leon Kuwata didn't give a damn about his words, all he cared about was making sure his fucking cousin was safe.

"Are you really going to let this get the better of you?"

"Shut the hell up! Don't p-play nice with me! You're just trying to l-lower my guard and then stab me in the fucking back!"

"If I were planning to attack you," the girl in purple spoke, grabbing Leon's wrist, "I would have done so while you were blinded by rage, focusing all of your attention on hitting the giant door you already know won't budge, your 'fantastic' throwing arm be damned."

He moved to punch her in the face with his free hand, but she caught it with her own. She pulled apart his fists, and looked at him with a cold stare, one she seemed to give everyone.

"If you keep acting like this, people WILL take advantage of your emotional weakness, and you won't get the chance to see whoever it is on the other side of this door you're looking for."

Kyoko Kirigiri walked away, leaving the Ultimate Baseball Player with a strong desire to hit her.

Leon took out his frustrations on the metal piece of shit he was hitting once again, before finally calming himself.

"It... It was just a damn fake to scare us, y-yeah. Has to be... And Kyoko's right, I-I'm... I'm just gonna get myself killed acting all stupid, and... A-and dumb! Yeah..."  
~-~-~-~  
Leon had forgotten his worries by nighttime, heading straight to Sayaka's room. That's what he told himself, anyway.

Somewhere, he considered the possibility of Sayaka trying to stab him. Or Mondo trying to crush him on the way over. Or Hina strangling him on the way back. Fuckin' Sosuke or whatever her name was could probably punch a hole through him to get the hell out. A cascade of dicks raining down from the vents and burying him alive. Anything could happen. Anything. He could die at any moment.

It was suspicious, like, really suspicious, a random note inviting him to her room. Why would she do it now? They agreed upon a curfew, and she wanted to break it. She ran out of the room faster than Leon did, and unlike his confused anger, she was apparently in pure fear, from what Makoto told him at dinner.

Still... She was Sayaka Maizono. The sweet pop idol everybody adored... There wasn't anything sinister behind her smile. Couldn't be. He knew pure girls well, she was a good chick, right?

He put his doubts aside, and headed into Sayaka's room with a new feeling confidence. Maybe he'd finally get that singing lesson... Yeah. Makoto was supposed to set up a lesson between the two, and Makoto was too weak to disobey someone, let alone try and kill them. As he knocked on the door to Sayaka's room, the Baseball Player realized what he'd just thought.

What the hell, 'Makoto was too weak', for fucks sake he's the one that's about to stab someone or something dumb, he's going insane. He's a friend, good kid, he'd stand up to any jerk that'd push him around, he just wasn't a jerk. A jerk was like... Mondo or the lolita. Leons' everybody's favorite baseball player, he was no evil mean jerk! Uh.... Probably? Sure there's somebody who doesn't like him, like... The enemy team, probably. Just that good, and he don't even practice!

The door creaked open, and without any words, Sayaka moved out of the way for Leon to enter. Despite the silence, she let out a grin.

"So... What'd you want me for! Did... Makoto tell you about those, uhm... singing lessons I wanted?"

Sayaka let out a "Mhmm", which filled Leon with more faith, only to suddenly lose it all again, stumbling over his words. Shit, why was this always so hard?

"So, uh, singing... yeah. We, um, gonna jump straight into it o-"

He fell backwards, grabbed the only thing he could find, and raised it, shielding his face from Sayaka's sudden attack.

Next thing he knew, he and Sayaka where swinging their weapons around the room, the intent to kill. Leon was raised to hit things, all he did was swing a bat for goddamn years, so he landed the first blow on the Popstar who bit off more than she could chew.

Minutes later, she was dead, in the bathroom, as Leon got rid of the evidence he'd ever been there.

On his hands and knees, removing hair from every inch of the floor, thinking about how he killed someone. And how he was relieved he'd done so.

Relieved.

...Relieved.

Leon hated this. Stained in blood, and glad that he was. Stained in the blood of that poor girl with almost a happiness in his heart.

His mind overflowed with both positive and negative emotions as he walked to wash away the stains, but you can't get rid of bloodshed so easily. But that wasn't gonna keep him from trying.  
~-~-~-~  
Leon started a dash to the laundry room, before slowing his pace to avoid suspicion. The thought being out at night at all was also suspicious crossed his mind, and he picked up his pace once more.

He couldn't make up his mind on what to do.

M-maybe if he confessed... He'd be let off easy since Sayaka tried to kill him?

Nah, more likely the damn bear would kill him on the spot. If not him, probably Mondo or whatever.

If he escaped, h-he... would accept being a murderer. He couldn't let that happen. He w-wasn't like the crazy bitch who tried to gut him.

But... I-If the bear could get Kanon, who knows who else he could get. Who did Sayaka try to kill for?

A-And... After all, he had to find her. He had to find her, and run like hell, remembering this damn school as a bad dream.

Every inch of his body was arguing with one another, but they all agreed that every step he did and didn't take was the wrong one.

Leon's half conscious self was doing everything it could to rid himself of sin, whether so he could walk away without the memories and fears or because he regretted it, his unconscious self was too busy trying to figure out.

Leon didn't know how long it had been since his eyes closed. A minute. An hour. Two hours. Three? Six?

It felt like both ages and seconds when the clock hit 7AM, and Leon Kuwata prepared to greet another beautiful day with a dead pop star in another room.

Leon didn't know how long, but it took him forever to get out of bed and into the bathroom. His face looked almost as bad as Sayaka's when he left her in a bathroom.

The baseball player felt like a cat just stuck its' claws in his back, or a judge had brought down his death sentence. He stumbled out of the bathroom, colliding with the floor and finally falling to any sort of rest.  
~-~-~-~  
Leon knew there were a few types of student. First, there were those that did or tried to do the best. They weren't exactly straight A students, but they did their damndest at whatever they were doing, whether they wanted to or not. Second, there were the 'average' students. You couldn't tell them apart by describing them, their actions were all the same. All As and Bs, all decent but not perfect health habits, not exactly motivated. Their personalities may be all over the place, but their minds were wired the same. Third, there were those that didn't care nor try, not because they were bad, but because their assignments were stupid. They lived life most like how they wanted, as much as they could with how few and far between their resources usually seemed.

Then there was Leon, who was the most extreme portions of every group combined, especially his inability to get out of bed at 7.

It had been 20, 30 minutes since he had first awoken, and he'd finally forced his tired and weak figure out of bed and into the hallway. He stumbled his way around, going to the dining hall. His fears, his ease, his... Hunger, lurking up on him.

God dammit... He couldn't do this. He couldn't fucking do this. He couldn't live with this. What he'd done. What the hell would happen now.

It... It just didn't happen. If he told himself that enough, maybe he'd believe it.

It was a bad god damn dream. It was that. It was exactly that.

"U-Uh..." Leon had half a mind to punch whoever said that in the face, how could they be some god damn infuriatingly fucking goddamn loud. After a few seconds of staring at Makoto's concerned (and worried) face, his body eased up a bit, even if his face remained as tense as it had been since... Since last night.

Makoto was a bit on the quiet side... What the fuck was he going on about? Loud? He was going crazy. Fuck it, he was already crazy. He was way past crazy. He was like fucken crazy^14 or some stupid fucking

"Leon!"

Leon glared over at Makoto, regaining some sense of inner focus, which didn't exactly help since it just added on to all of the other stuff rather than replace it. All of that shit on his conscience could go screw off for awhile. He didn't need to think. He just needed to do. Suffer through this conversation and the next and the next and the discovery of a corpse or whatever.

"Yeah?" Leon responded, doing everything to stave off any thought, which is to say, doing nothing, since thinking about pushing thought away was in of itself thought, why the hell was he thinking about this!? "What is it?"

"You... Y-You don't look so good. Are you okay?"

"Was just thinking about... My video. Okay?" He wasn't wrong, so whatever. Thinking about it was bad, bad bad. Stop it. "Like... Can you say you aren't stressing out?"

"...W-Well, it was fake... Wasn't it? I mean..." Makoto's face reeked of a confusion that Leon felt. "In such a short time they couldn't track down all of our families, right? Most likely they just did a bit of research, tricked them into recording nice messages or made some clever edits, a-and the rest was made on a computer!"

"Maybe, maybe not! I don't know! I'm hungry!" Leon ran off to the kitchen, probably to eat, he didn't even know, or care. No caring, no thinking. Just doing.  
~-~-~-~  
"I'm glad you caved in so early, I was getting a bit worried! A body has finally been found! Puhuhuhu, things are certainly getting exciting now, aren't they, my lovely students? Well, I hope you have one helluva time investigating, then. If you really need me to point you towards the rotting corpse, go check out your bedrooms!"

Leon had spent the past while in the kitchen, mindlessly doing whatever half-conscious tasks he could, which proved to be nothing at all, apparently.

Fuck, fucking goddammit. How was it so hard to just stop thinking. Leon was going to make it stop, one way or another. There was a knife in the corner. And another. The kitchen had a hundred of 'em. He just needed one, and it'd be fucking over. His fears would be gone. His problems would be gone. He'd stop fucking thinking.

And then he would be dead. Whatever the hell dead was. Was it nice? Was it even worse than this? Would Kanon find out if he did this himself?

Why couldn't he do it. No solution. Just thinking.

Leon ran away, to somewhere else. Anywhere else. And that anywhere else happened to be Sayaka's room.

Leon stood there, same as everyone else. Mondo dragged Makoto out of the room, while everyone else was either shocked or searching.

"Oh yeah, uh... Since this is your first time and Naegi is unconscious you should probably head off to the gym first so I can explain! I really should've done this earlier..."

As everyone else began to leave, Leon ran away, to somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Leon made it to the gym, where a bear popped out, just for him.

"Oh, hai, killah! Hope you like games, 'cuz we've got one to break you even more! It's called a "Trial", and if you lose, you'll have to pay for you crime, eye for an eye! Now the others are arriving soon so I should probably shut up why did I even decide to talk here in the first place... Oh yeah. I brought you here to break you like I did your cousin, didn't I? Well have fun with that little tidbit, and the game!"  
~-~-~-~  
Leon stood there. He stood there as the others came in. He kept standing there as Monokuma went over what he had to say. A game, a killing game, the one he'd been playing this entire time. The killer wasn't getting off that easily. If he hadn't cleaned up his mess he would be dead already, but he cleaned it up, for whatever Naga forsaken reason... Fear, common sense, some other unconscious shit he stupid fucking brain made him do... A part of him wanted to take a screwdriver to is own head just to tear it out, damn thing didn't do him or Kanon or Sayaka any good.

"What the hell do you mean 'trials', 'investigations'?" In his ears, Leon heard someone who he wanted to be quiet. "You never talked about any of that shit before! I'm not playing your stupid game, kill whoever you want, do whatever you want, I don't care, just leave me out of it! Throw me in a damn cell if it keeps you from pulling bullcrap out of nowhere every time we see you!"

Leon stood there as what couldn't even be considered a yell tore through his eardrums. The little lost wolf named Junko was to his left, barking about something to her predator. He didn't know what the fight was even about. He didn't care. It was just another goddamn voice that needed to shut up.

"I'm not playing your sick games anymore, let me the hell outta here!"

Why was she so god damn infuriatingly fucking goddamn loud. She needed to shut up. It all needed to shut up.

Before he even knew how to do that, he'd already swung to sock Junko in the face. She saw it coming a mile away, and moved left, leaping away, her disgust replaced by anger, and as quick as it changed first, her face changed again, showing nothing but shock.

Leon turned his head left, the screaming in his head swapping from arguing with itself to forcing him to look at what just flew by. Where Makoto was standing was covered in spikes, all of which were centimeters from his feet.

"W-What... What the fuck!?"

"U-Uh god dammit okay you get off easy this time little dollie but next time I'll get you for sure bye now and take this!"

Leon turned to face the bear, but the fucker was already gone, unlike Leon, he could escape whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, as Leon stood there, having almost witnessed a second murder, one that was almost also his fault.

No... No. Sayaka came at him. Junko decided to be stupid. One paid the price, the other nearly did. It was their fault. All their fault. Leon wasn't weak here, he could stand, he could think, he could care as much as he liked, he could do whatever he wanted.

And he wanted to get the hell out of here. Whatever the hell happened, it made his head stop, so he could think, as opposed to the jumbled mess of "thought" that took him over. If his useless head could stop panicking, then he'd be fine. He'd be just fine. Everything would be just fine.

Leon turned around, and made his way out of the gym, he needed to clear his goddamn head somehow. Of course, he was dead set on that goal, already having achieved it, an irony he didn't know. He wasn't paying attention.

Going out of sight was suspicious, his agreed with himself that much, so he paced around by the crime scene. "Investigating" implied they'd have to figure out who killed Sayaka... and he wasn't going to let that happen. He went back to Sayaka's room. Looking around, he could see what happened. Sayaka jumped at him, he fought back, and she died. That was all that happened, from a physical level. Psychologically, Leon was confused, angry, and terrified when it happened, so was the dead girl in her own bathroom, he could only guess. That's what her eyes spoke when she was stabbed in the stomach.

...If... If he was going to survive, he needed to clear his name... S-somehow. He'd already cleaned the room so it didn't look like he'd been there, his jacket was gone, he wiped away all of the gold, he took away the hairs, tore the note to pieces and stashed it in his clothing drawer... A-And... Fuck... That wasn't enough... All it did was shift him out of the spotlight... But he was acting strange, not to mention brash when he found out Kanon was taken away...

What else could he do? It was too late to do a damn thing, really... He'd get caught. Why didn't he do more to accuse... Togami or something? Why did he even do anything to begin with? He already asked himself the second question, but he had no chance to find an answer because all he could do is stress out and not actually do anything to not die! Well, just... j-just fuck that! He couldn't be thinking about that now!

The as-of-now stainless killer to his fellow classmates poked around a bit more... If there was anything he really missed he'd need to dispose of it. Now. He had like... A minute, maybe, to reasonably get away with it. Same amount of time asleep he got last night.

Leon didn't know where else to check... He already went under the bed... In the bathroom... If he was caught by something in there somebody would've already accused him, and he didn't need any reminder of almost being the one to die in this room.

He checked the bedside counter, at this point moreso looking for anything he could use as evidence against somebody else. Makoto, maybe... Kyoko was sorta suspicious, too, Mondo and Junko were rowdy as hell and kinda jerks sometimes... Togami and the lolita were ALWAYS jerks, Chihiro was almost sickeningly sweet which could be claimed an act, Sakakura or whatever the big girls' name was would have no trouble killing somebody, neither would Hina probably... The tall guy and the writer girl were probably too out there/stupid to pull something like this off, Sayaka would never dare let the creepy dude in her room and Kiyotaka had a stick up his ass at all times, no way he'd break his moral code, too stuck in everyone's heads to claim as a joke.

Eight people he could maybe accuse... If he did this right, he'd be free. Fuckin' free. It... It was simple. Just paint one of 'em as a murderer, and he'd be golden. Perfect, p-perfect!

Leon opened Sayaka's drawers... At the very least it wouldn't be super suspicious if he was caught searching, maybe he'd be called a creep, but not a suspect. The first drawer he opened had some basic school supplies and a hair brush..., second one had the same toolkit he had in his own drawer... Third drawer... A few jackets, mainly dark green or blue. Didn't look like anything Sayaka wore ever...

Leon closed that door and went back to the second one, looking at the toolkit. Wasn't there something about... Something about girls having sewing kits?

"You seemed to have noticed something, am I right?"

Leon jolted up from the drawer, doing his best to retain any composure while turning to face the secretive purple girl who'd calmed him down the other day. "Y-Yeah, look at this!"

Leon moved aside, and pointed into the drawer, doing his best to keep his hand still and his face not one a coat of fear. A blank stare was fine, somebody was just murdered, some anger, sure, but any fear? Kyoko wasn't an idiot, she'd read him like some idol magazine...

"It's a toolkit. One that hasn't been touched." Kyoko seemed almost shocked, but her expression mainly told Leon she was... Not angry... Appalled? "Tell me how groundbreaking of a discovery this is?"

"W-Well... This is Sayaka's room, right? Shouldn't this be a sewing kit? Couldn't we check all the boys rooms and see if any of 'em are missing toolkits?"

Kyoko's expressed turned a bit more puzzled, before going to the neutral gaze everyone had come to expect from the girl. "That would certainly be a good way to determine the killer, assuming Monokuma didn't make a mistake, or that we couldn't get a toolkit from the Gift Shop. However, ignoring those possibilities, this isn't actually strange, since this is Makoto's room after all."

"...Um... What?"

"When looking through the drawers, did you see a sewing kit? Disregarding that, you never looked at the Monokuma File that our 'headmaster' threw at Junko after you made her jump away. Celeste read it aloud, but I suppose it'd be hard to hear if you jumped into the investigation without talking to anyone else."

"U-Uh..." Leon was dead. He was fucking dead.

"Chihiro currently possesses the 'Monokuma File', which is exactly as it sounds. Not particularly helpful, but it does state the location of the murders, as well as the time and cause of death, both less important, since the time of death just means none of us have alibis, and the cause of death could've been figured out quite easily, due to the concentration of blood pouring from a vertical stomach wound, as well as the murder weapon still being present."

"B-But... The nameplate on the room says S-Sayaka! Doesn't it? We all have nameplates and I'm pretty sure none of 'em are wrong!"

"As far as I was aware, they were not wrong, not as of yesterday." Kyoko stated, turning away from the moron she was dealing with, pointing to the door. "But see for yourself, Makoto and Sayaka's nameplates were switched."

"A-Alright... Thanks, Kyoko." If he was going to salvage this at all, he'd need to play it cool. Act like a trying-to-be-helpful dumbass, maybe, y-yeah! "I-I'll find something more helpful later, and catch that killer!"

Leon walked out of the room, his head back to arguing with itself, filling up his conscious with thoughts of how that could've gone better. Soon, though, he pushed it all back, focusing on how before that, he'd basically calmed himself down... Or... Moreso came to an agreement.

He couldn't die here.

He just couldn't. The fresh breeze of the outside, that sensation of not having to play baseball for another week after finishing a game, a nice swig of Cola Cola, screwing around with Kanon watching terrible TV shows...

He didn't want to lose that. Any of that. Okay, maybe he could do without playing baseball every frickin' week, like, every two weeks or so, sure, but the rest?

And god... Kanon. She'd kill herself if anything happened to him. He couldn't fucking let that happen. Not to her.

Outside of Sayaka's room, Leon saw a few more detectives all working against him... Or... Loitering around aimlessly. He'd be fine if everyone was as confused as he was.

"Yo, Chihiro." The now slightly less tense baseball player asked the petite girl holding what must be the 'Monokuma File'. "I haven't read the file thing yet... Can I see it?"

...Silence. Chihiro looked to the side, gave a quick glance to Leon, and then looked away when she saw he was staring at her. Great. Fuckin' great. Absolutely fucken great. If she didn't speak up now he'd go back to an arguing insane mess.

"U-Uh... I'm sorry... Here..." Chihiro pushed the file away, thrusting it at Leon's chest. "I-I was thinking about something... I... Sayaka died... Y'know... A-and..."

"Y-Yeah... Yeah." He just wanted this interaction to be over. Looking at the poor girl just made him even more depressed on top of everything else. "Thanks, Chihiro..."

Had it been an hour ago, or hell, even 20 minutes ago, Leon would have felt a pang of guilt. But now, he had to do this to survive. He had to do this for Kanon, and his favorite sandwich, and the bed he'd slept in for 6 years, and the baseball fields he was so happy to leave behind, and that weird childrens book on his shelf he hasn't read since he was 4. He'd made his decision when he went into the bathroom.

Leon turned the file over as he wandered away from the programmer, going over the information. Sayaka was stabbed in the stomach, golly gosh how could he have known that, it was past 11, duh... And sure enough, it was Makoto's room.

"H-Hey, Leon, can I see that?" There was the lucky student himself, asking for the case file for whatever reason.

"...Yeah sure. Thought you already read it, but whatever." What the hell did he want with the file? Well... He was probably the prime suspect since Sayaka was in his room...

Why was Sayaka in his room anyway? "Hey... The murder was in your room, wasn't it?"

"It was, b-but I didn't do it! Sayaka was getting harassed as her door, a-and she wanted to switch rooms because she was terrified... B-but..."

Makoto looked away, as did Leon. Neither wanted to face the truth, Leon knew that. Makoto and Sayaka were always hanging out, being all lovey dovey. And she was dead, and he was being blamed. And it was all Leon's fault.

"I-I'll find out who did this. For her. A-and then we'll all find a way outta here!"

"Mmhm..." Leon heard the shakiness in the unlucky kids' voice. "Yeah, I'll search whatever I can too. Like... The nameplates. Look at 'em! That's your room, right? Why's it say Sayaka? Like... did somebody try to get people to think that was her room..."

At the sound of his own spitball theorizing, Leon put two and two together. Makoto probably didn't get it, if you wanted to frame somebody, why try to make it look like they were murdered in their own room instead of somebody else's? The kid with some... personal experience on the crime, though... it made perfect sense to him... God damn that Sayaka!!!

"W-Well... I'm gonna go investigate the kitchen, might be where the weapon came from!" The liar added on, running off to go check the kitchen. Sayaka took the knife from the kitchen, and outplayed both him and Makoto. The precious smile hiding an evil planning to escape probably since day one.

If he could escape scot-free, Leon would almost feel like he did good. He certainly knew all the answers to this case.  
~-~-~-~  
No denying it, a knife was missing. A pretty big one, same set as all of the others (since there was only one) that were in the sink or put away on the wall. Leon grabbed one of the other knives, getting a feel for the short blade.

It was obviously a bit bigger than the murder weapon, but it had a similar handle texture, not to mention a sharp enough blade to make a cut. Leon grabbed a nearby tomato and jammed the knife in, the bloody sight was all too familiar.

That was all he needed to know. He'd pieced the whole thing together. Sayaka grabbed a knife, swapped rooms with Makoto, and tried to kill the Ultimate Baseball Star. Simple as that, hah. Who needs a detective when you have Leon Kuwata on the case! Man, he was good at this.

Leon walked out of the kitchen, sharing a glance with Hina before walking back into the giant... room... thing, that connected all of the hallways and rooms of the rest of the building. The lobby, or whatever. The prodigy detective felt a sense of achievement, only to go from investigator to murderer when he remembered why this was happening.

"S-So... did you figure out if the weapon was from the kitchen?" Leon looked up, and Makoto was standing there, his expression still one devoid of life, while his words sounded of sorrow.

"Yeah, there's a knife missing, I'm pretty sure, and the one that was missing was like the second biggest one, I think, definitely big enough to kill somebody."

"So..." Makoto waited a moment before continuing, staving off the image of the corpse in his bathroom, maybe. Yeah, Leon would do the same if he had a corpse in his bathroom... or left one in somebody elses... "...If anybody else was in the dining hall, then maybe they saw who took a knife?"

"Maybe, but they could also be the killer and lie about it or somethin'..."

Makoto and Leon glanced around at that thought, obviously for different reasons. The thought of what'd happen next was looming over them, as were thoughts about Sayaka's killer and how they were deceiving the rest of the group.

"Ahem... Uh... I think you've had plenty of time to do your investigative thing!" The two boys were reeled in by the sudden third speaker, coming from the speakers and monitors all throughout the school. "Well, I think that's a good sign that we should begin this trial! Head to those giant red doors I'm sure about two of you noticed at least, and then... Well... Go through them. What else do you use doors for? I'm sure one of you probably tried to eat one, or something, you all sure look dumb enough to try!"

"Uh..." Leon hadn't seen those doors at all. Well, if he didn't show up, he couldn't be accused? Maybe?

"...I guess we're going, then... We're going to have a trial." Makoto responded, not waiting for Leon to try and speak properly, the jerk! Heh... Leon shuddered at the thought, remembering what he thought on the way to Sayaka's room. "I'm gonna go to the doors, I guess... That's probably the best idea at the moment, if we annoy Monokuma...."

Leon had already forgotten the incident with Junko, since it wasn't his neck on the line. He hadn't even caught a glance of her in the hallway, and she almost died earlier, so did Makoto. And he woulda died too if he didn't get lucky with that sword...

As Makoto left to go to the doors, Leon followed a distance behind, not knowing where to go. As his shoes made contact with the checked floors, tiles alternating as quick as Leon's feelings about the situation, he had focused in on one thing, the voices in his head, some conscience, or this stupid game be damned.

He did not kill Sayaka Maizono.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 also has post- actual-original-chapter-publishing notes, but 3 and onward should be unchanged.


	2. Kill and Live...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a weird write. It was where the first seeds of what I actually wanted to do were sewn, but they didn't start growing until next time, so we're just left with a bunch of dirt on top of the seeds that smells vaguely like the finest Kuwata Krops you'll ever see.
> 
> I like it, ultimately, but it reinforced this one really dumb gag I introduced last chapter where Leon doesn't remember half of the characters' names. Eventually this goes away for the most part, but it was a dumb idea that didn't need to be here. I have a few ideas involving it for FAR off chapters from when I'm writing this, but maybe I'll decide to not go that direction and it'll be totally dropped. Who knows.

Leon Kuwata held his hand out in front of him, pushing against the red door ahead just as it closed behind the unlucky student. In contrast to the weirdly lit-but-still-dark hallway he was just in, this room was bright, not to mention full. Most of the others arrived ahead of him, somehow. Some students stood still, looking at the walls or at the ceiling, while others shuffled about, trying to stop themselves from glancing at one another.

Leon did a headcount... nine others, plus him made ten, so they were still waiting on a few. Makoto was right in front of the door (and Leon's way) walking forwards a bit giving Leon the space to enter the room himself. Whatshisface... Yashiro, or whatever, towered over most of the others in the room, even the beefiest people here, Mondo and... Christ, Leon hadn't talked with half of these people much. He knew her name, though, at least... Sakari? Sakuna? Sakurai?

If he wasn't about to lie his way through whatever was happening next, maybe he'd give his classmates' names more thought. But he had a job to do, and that job was to survive.

The Ultimate Baseball player scanned the room again, other than the four he already glanced over, Chihiro, the angsty writer chick, Kiyotaka, Togami, and... Celebre, the Lolita, or whatever the word was. Lolita wasn't right, was it?

Oh, whatever! He just got his mind to focus! Stop wavering now, stupid fucking... Brain! Who cares about words, or thinking, or whatever! It's time for that trial thing!

...Which apparently consisted of waiting around for literally anything to happen.

Leon joined Makoto moving away from the door for whoever else was to come in next. Kyoko, Junko, Hina, and... Hifumi, or whatever were all still not here. Kyoko seemed like a no-nonsense type of gal, so if she wasn't here, she was probably going to arrive soon. Or maybe she secretly didn't care about anything, and was off taking a nap now that everyone else was gone...

...The hell was he thinking? She stopped him from breaking his fist the other day on a hunk of metal, she definitely cared enough. Whether for her own sake or 'cause she was actually a pretty, innocent girl underneath, who knew. Not him, certainly. Maybe she talked to somebody he hadn't been paying any mind, definitely not Makoto, or Sayaka... Maybe the writer, she had to talk to SOMEBODY... He says, not paying any of these people any mind other than Sayaka because he thought she was a nice chick (hahAHAHA), and Makoto because he went around talking with everybody. Maybe Chihiro, he's talked to her a few times, since she was easy to talk to, kinda cute, and it was so boring in this hellhole. You couldn't cut the silence or dullness with a butcher knife.

Well, whatever. As for Hina, she actually seemed like the not-caring type, not because her heart was small (that area was certainly her most notable asset) but because she didn't really... Get it. Maybe he was just talkin' out of his ass... No, yeah, definitely talking out of his ass, he talked to her like once a day at breakfast and maybe once in passing in the hall, ever. Also he was dead meat if he didn't win, so yeah, definitely seemed more fricken worth caring about to him, probably.

Hifumi... Leon wasn't even sure that was his name. Maybe he fell over on the way and injured something, or whatever.

And Junko... Maybe she was getting herself together after almost dying? She seemed perfectly fine, just pissed the hell off, but maybe she was terrified.

Hell, maybe she killed somebody and the other two were investigating. Or maybe she killed all three. She could barge in right now and slaughter everybody, no witnesses to catch her if everyone was dead.

Or maybe she was dead, upset over almost dying, and Kyoko took advantage of her. Or maybe it was Togami, or Mondo. Anybody coulda done it. Or nothing could've happened and these people were just late and gonna get stabbed by Monokuma!

Of course, all of his theorizing was interrupted by the late arrivals... Uh... Arriving. Well, two of them, anyway, Hifumi and Kyoko both walked in as soon as he thought "Monokuma!" Which, of course, meant he was secretly a psychic and one of them was behind this killing game. Kyoko was so calm about the whole situation, but Hifumi was Hifumi... Maybe it was both of 'em.

Or maybe KANON set up this how damn thing! Or maybe he was dying and this was a crazy fever dream! Who knew? Certainly not him! All he knew is his mind kept leaping everywhere. Any other day, ANY OTHER DAY, he'd be having fun with all of these wacky ideas and shit, but today was trying to survive. He had a trial to win, for his own sake.

"...Are we still missing some people?" Makoto piped up. They HAD to be here by now, right? If not, Monokuma was gonna kill them for sure...

"This tardiness is definitely something worth punishing!" Kiyotaka yelled out, because of course his screeching was needed at such a time. "If we didn't have more important matters at hand I would most certainly be finding them myself and giving out whatever punishment I could! We are in a dire situation, not to mention a school environment!"

"I certainly saw Miss Asahina on the way here, so she should be here shortly..." Hifumi spoke in response, fiddling with his glasses as he talked. "I can't say I've seen Miss Enoshima at all for a good while, though..."

"Perhaps we haven't seen her because she is a guilty party? She had quite the reaction when we were first told about the class trials, not to mention the possibility she may be behind some non-'blackened' parts of this game."

...Blackened, the hell was that? Rich people can't just make up words like that. That's gotta be illegal or something...

"I have to agree with you" the gothic not-lolita stated in reply, her face in her smiling expression rather than her blank, unamused stare, which this baseball player honestly preferred more. "She certainly does seem like she has something to hide, although I suppose she's so unpleasant to be around I might just be wishing it true."

Leon zoned out of the conversation after that, nobody talking really caught his interest, and he just couldn't focus. He tried to pay attention, like, first sign of a killer was that they were worrying about themself in the corner, but he was always like that if the speaker wasn't a friend or some pretty lady. Good thing there were none of either of those around here!

...The dumb jerk idiot... Person tuned back into the conversation when Makoto began trying to ask everyone to calm down. Leon had no idea what to call himself. Ace detective? Baseball genius? Just killer? Just killer but like Just as in justified and not just as in only a?

"U-Uh... Shouldn't we go looking for Junko and Hina?" The innocent suggestion from the innocent student was met with grumbles and groaning. Leon couldn't say he cared much either, not personally... SOMEBODY should definitely go look for them, just... Not him.

"...Fuck, what's taking them so long?" Mondo spoke up, ignoring what Makoto just said. Leon wished he could've forgotten the guy existed, he was an ass, but maybe remembering he was an ass could help him out.

Waiting for somebody else to respond, Leon shifted his body around again, he'd done it a few times but he hadn't noticed until now. Or maybe this was the first time, but the point was he was moving unconsciously. It was weird, really. Weird to think about.

...The hell was up with him today. All fucking day he couldn't stop thinking about... Thinking! And all sorts of stupid shit and how much he didn't think about anybody else! What the fuck?

Maybe it had to do with now being a killer. Maybe it changed how he was seeing everything. Maybe he was just keeping an eye out on 'weird' behavior to survive. Nah, if that was the case, he'd be actually thinking about it, or... Something! God... Most annoying part about this the fact it was happening at all aside was probably how all he could say was... Something! Something! He couldn't describe any of this shit, maybe cause he was dumb, maybe because his brain was trying to fuck him over, maybe because he was melting or some shit and would collapse into a pile of cooked meat any second now.

Leon tried to back himself up, trying to focus on any one thing, like this was baseball practice and he needed every fiber of his body to agree on a a good excuse to skip. He didn't kill Sayaka. He wasn't weirding out over everything. He was just going about doing everything the same way he always did. Perfectly normal. Perfectly fine.

Perfectly fine certainly didn't describe Junko, still looking all sorts of angry and confused, but also present, with Hina being dragged into the room by the furious fashionista.

"My my," the once-again-focused-on-nine-different-things killer noticed the not-lolita seemed amused, apparently she liked feisty girls or something, he never got the appeal, but the true colors of a 'pure' girl were certainly enough to put him off of his type of chick... "You are both quite late, we were starting to think something had happened, perhaps you had been punished by Monokuma?"

"I'm sure as hell not letting that stupid bear get the best of me," Junko returned. Leon could practically see steam coming off of her head. "Same with you, I've had enough of you... Just... You in general! Shove those curls in your mouth to keep yourself quiet if you don't want me to be the next killer."

"J-Junko! Calm down!" Makoto moved over to the raging loony of a trendsetter and signalled for her to lower her hands. Leon's first instinct, well... Second instinct, first being to wonder why moving your own hands down was a signal to somebody else to simmer down... Down, that was it... A-Anyway, fucking sidetracked brain, his second instinct was to do the same as Makoto, but he just stood there, maybe it was apathy or fear or some other dumb shit. Whatever it was, it kept keeping him from acting, maybe for the best, in his case, but Monokuma might make that not the case for Junko... tardiness and attitude and shit.

Super Macho (Wo)man intervened at the right moment when Junko prepared to slap Makoto upside. Her attempt to grab the wild average-sized gal didn't work itself, but it made Junko look around the room, met with concerned, afraid and disapproving stares. Fuck yes, everything was okay and Leon didn't have to do shit!

Junko groaned and went to stand in the corner of the room. Leon didn't pay her any mind after that, if he needed to accuse her, he could probably manage it with what he knew or could make up now, and not like staring at somebody he barely paid any attention to was like... Not suspicious. He'd already made enough screw ups as is, claiming 'He was paying attention to her because she was suspicious' wasn't something he wanted to gamble on.

Hina was going on explaining where she was and why Junko had to drag her in or something, but Leon's attention, as much of it he could get to fricken focus, was on planning out everything he was gonna say.

If he wanted to survive, he'd have to get somebody else accused. Would... Would they die? Leon had no idea, but he couldn't turn back now. If he did make it the hell out of here... What the fuck would he say to people outside? What would Sayaka's fans think if they found out she was dead? What the fuck will happen to everyone else here? How the hell was he gonna find Kanon!?

He had to stop getting sidetracked. If he kept thinking about all this shit, he'd have no chance to get his ass off the chopping block and he'd end up like Sayaka. That thought, at least, seemed to get him somewhat in shape, survival instincts, eh?

So... A plan. He knew he needed somebody to get accused, but it's not like he knew what the trial was even like. Fuck, he didn't even know if the "trial" would give him a chance to do anything. The title could be misleading and it could be a game of volleyball. It could just be 'Pick who you think did it!' With a 30 second timer that crushed you to death if you didn't accuse somebody in time.

He didn't listen to Monokuma's nonsense earlier, because surprise surprise he was too busy worrying in twelve different directions about Monokuma's nonsense, so he has no idea how the trial works. Hopefully he can do a damn thing, otherwise he's screwed...

...Maybe... not everybody here is all that smart... or informed on the murder, probably...

No, even if they weren't the brightest there were thirteen of them versus him, they'd figure it out unless he could do anything. A few people probably suspected him already...

...Oh, duh. The murder was in Makoto's room. Unless anybody else knew what he knew, then he was clean! Right?

Wasn't full proof, Kyoko and Makoto at least, knew that Sayaka and Makoto's nameplates were switched, and it wouldn't be too hard to piece together another possibility... but all evidence otherwise pointed to Makoto! It wasn't impossible!

Of course Monokuma was running this stupid fucking game so he was probably fucked anyway! Dammit!

Leon regained the urge to punch something, but held it in. Some part of him was keeping himself from drawing even more attention towards... himself, good on those nerves or brain functions or whatever did it, because he'd be as good as dead if he showed any more random emotional outburst. Of course, people were designed to be stressed out when there were murders, because of fear and suspicion and shit, which was fantastic in trying to claim innocence! It's like people wanted to be caught for their crimes! The entire point is not to get caught!

Everything in Leon debated with itself on whether or not to slap himself in the face because, yep, all of Leon couldn't focus! That was always fantastic. At least it got him out of focusing on how much baseball practice sucked, but this wasn't baseball. This was Where's Wally except if you don't find him first he'll stab and roast you alive then eat you dead or some shit like that.

Leon needed to get himself together. He needed to buckle down and get through this stupid thing, this stupid game, set up by a stupid bear. He was going to be fine. He would get to waltz out of here, this trial wouldn't be so bad, Kanon was safe, he was safe, he could still go out return to a regular life of bitching about baseball practice and how there were no good shows on and how it was too warm while enjoying himself a can of PoppinGamer or some Maween.

"Boo."

Leon squealed and leapt away, almost knocking down Hina and tumbling to the floor, before the just-as-startled swimmer and the not-nearly-as-startled detective caught him before he collided with the ground. Leon moved to turn around, shooting a quick glance at the most-certainly-suspecting-him-of-murder-if-not-an-extreme-case-of-stupidity Kyoko before looking back at Monokuma laughing his ass off. He was toying with him, he knew damn well he was a frightened, dirty killer.

...No. It wasn't his fault. Wasn't his fault! Sayaka did something stupid, she paid the price. He wasn't going to pay the same price, because he wasn't going to do anything (else) stupid.

He already established that, even, why was he thinking about it again!?!

Leon was lifted to his feet properly as a flurry of questions, screams, and other noises from everyone else ensued.

"What the h-h-hell are y-you screaming a-about?"

"Stupid fuckin' bear! You making fun of us!?"

"I must say, you made him jump quite high. I, for one, could grow accustomed to your antics if used in such ways."

"Oh man, that got me good! I thought there was a problem or something, just Monokuma. Looks like we can get to the next part of the game, sweet! Loved the acting from Sayaka, by the way, I've never seen a guy look more dead!"

"Shut up! You and Monokuma! Why did you do that!?"

"Yeah... we have a 'trial' to get to, right?"

Monokuma slowly ceased his laughing as it registered to the dumbass with hair that pierced the heavens that Hina just insulted him. Leon tuned out his groaning as he tried to focus on Monokuma, maybe him not getting the low down could be remedied, if not... he'd figure it out. He'd have to.

"Why, you're right! I'm glad you're so eager to play the game, my students! Well, some of you. Some of you were so late I'd have half a mind to punish you for it! But punishing two of you right now would be a shame... I need SOME participants for the game!" Leon could tell where this was going. He couldn't just try and punch somebody to fix it. "So Miss Enoshima! Step up! I need to stab you properly this time!"

And it wasn't his problem to fix either. His priority list had one thing on the top, that was him. Everyone else... he couldn't think about them. They would have to deal with this themselves, and if not...

Well, Sayaka wouldn't be the only person who couldn't handle themself, duh.

Junko refused to step up or say anything to the bear, staying in the corner of the room. One part of Leon wanted to tell her to step up, another wanted to shift her into the group, since she clearly was still rebelling, with no concern for her own exposed torso, soon to be filled with spears.

One was going to go through her chest at any moment now. By about the intestines, no... higher, Leon didn't know exactly where they were located in the body, but straight through her torso, point was, the blood would splatter everywhere, and her surprised, scared expression would fall into one of pure fear, then nothing. The messy sight would hit him in the face and he'd be running off to toss his shirt in the incinerator.

"Who the fuck cares about punishing somebody for something like that?" Oh dear lord bartender above what the fuck was he doing. "We can't get this trial started if we don't... get the trial started. So when are we gonna do that? We've been waiting!"

"Early to leave the planning, early to start the game? I'd say you're actually EXCITED to participate! Funny, you didn't seem to care about my explanation, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were acting kinda suspicious..." This is what happens when you even think about helping somebody else, Leon! If he weren't Leon himself, he probably would've killed the guy already. Years ago, probably. Stupid fucking dumbass! "But I'll let you all decide. I'm sure some of you are dead set on a certain somebody, so I hope you provide an interesting enough discussion when we get to the debate room!"

So now the bear was trying to paint him as the culprit. Maybe he wanted this stupid game to continue until everybody was gone. Well, he was clearly enough of a sadist as is, setting this up to begin with!

"I suppose I should actually tell you how to get to the debate room! You need to sacrifice a virgin to an elder god, so giant pile of purple barf, lie down, Yasuhiro, prepare to accept a sacrifice!"

"Uh... alright, dude, whatever you say." Leon once again stove off an urge to do something, to greater success this time, as that dumbass prepared to accept his sacrifice.

"He was making a joke, dumbass!" He had no idea who said that, but it sounded like everyone, good... why couldn't it have been him standing here, fearing for his life?

Any other day, Leon would've cared more than a little about thinking that, but today, now? It was finally time to put this behind him.

Probably, anyway, Monokuma hadn't actually responding with how to get into the trial room. Also, he had left. Fuck.

Thankfully, the gates behind everyone had opened, finally. No where to go but forwards. Running away was basically a sign of guilt, stepping forwards showed any amount of confidence, any amount of innocence.

The group filed into the next room one or two at a time, depending on their size. Leon stood in wait, being closest to the front of the room out of everybody except Junko, convenient, gave him time to gather his nerves, hopefully letting him walk into a trial without looking like he just kicked a retarded puppy.

He jerked his head towards the now open gates, giving Junko a glance. She stomped off into the next room before he did, and he followed behind soon after. He didn't know why, just... being last didn't feel as weird? Like, everybody else has already done it, not suspicious at all. Yep, made sense.

Somewhat ignoring the fact that being last could also be seen as suspicion, Leon slid into the left corner, Junko standing across from him in the right, and everyone else clustered around the center or edges of the room. Nothing interesting about the place, see one part you've seen it all, just a dirty, dark gray, concrete room, probably with a second gate, he couldn't see over Sailor Steroids' giant figure obscuring his vision.

The gates to Leon's right slammed shut and the next step of getting to this stupid trial began. Why did this have to take so long, giving him a thousand years to build up fears and anticipation? Probably because Monokuma was fucking with specifically him. The theory of the 'mastermind' behind this game being Kanon seemed likelier and likelier. Apparently she couldn't toss a ball fast enough and was tired of waiting. Fool, stamping out his love of angelic and saintly girls only made her even less likely to get in her cousins' bed!

...He couldn't understand it. He let her down easy, she was a wacko. A wacko he'd kill for, apparently, but a wacko all the damn same. She revolved around him like he was the sun. Maybe that was why he hated the heat...

She was such a nice kid... except when it came to the almost daily confession of love, then it was kinda weird, but after she got that out she was the nicest damn person you could know. O-Okay, maybe that wasn't healthy, but it's not like he didn't consume shit from the convenience store every single day! Was probably better, though, damn, it obviously tasted bad, but sometimes it also tasted like heaven, somehow.

Kanon wasn't anything awful, point was. She was just stuck with a puppy-love she never grew out of, and no proper understanding of why that dumb puppy-love was wrong.

Since he wasn't getting any... anything done, he didn't feel too bad about... being the same sack of ingenious shit who figured out the whole murder by himself. Eh, time to pretend he isn't walking into his death and fantasize about how he could've done literally everything better, all the while having just realized he was in an elevator.

Elevators...

"I would ask if you were prepared for the upcoming trial, but your expression speaks leagues about how prepared you truly are. You still have some time to get your story straight and your facts in order, if you think you've made any more helpful discoveries."

...You feel like you're going up when you're going down, because physics or something. He didn't know the fucking answer! God, what was he thinking, he was never normally like this...

"You seemed a bit panicky when we spoke earlier, but it seems you've realized that you can't let your feelings alone dictate your decisions, otherwise you'll end up doing something rash, and you'll pay for it.

...Or maybe everybody was randomly thinking about dumb shit and getting off topic no matter what because his brain wasn't the only one that couldn't do a damn think to keep the rest of his body from getting skewered with two ton iron rods of stabby death!

"Still, don't forget your emotions. The world is driven by people acting on both logic and on what they feel is right. You'd do well to find a balance if you want to make it out of here."

...Nah, that can't be the case. He's just been high for the past twelve hours, making a big deal of how he normally thinks or something...

...Saint... whatever... random deity, uh... Amaterasu, sure, shoot him on the god damn head right now this was so fucking annoying.

ACTUALLY don't do that living was kinda cool the easy way out can be taken when he's backed into a fucking corner.

God, fuck... fuck all of that! Only think that explained any of this was stress... he wasn't normally like this, he didn't think so, anyway. It... it was kinda familiar? But this stupid jumble of thoughts wasn't enough to feel like him. Like... whenever he realized he didn't do his homework at 9PM.

Just... forget it! Wasn't related to the trial, whatever the hell the trial even was!

...How deep did this thing go? It's been like, fucking, thirty minutes! Not really, but like, three at least! Three solid minutes of the rumbling and shaking of this stupid cage.

...Complain and people will do everything in their power to fulfill your request, even Saint Lord Man Person Upstairs, apparently, because they're tired of your bitching. The students' ride had grinded to a halt, and Leon could see some light seeping through the cracks of the mass of kids walking out of the elevator. As more people piled out, he got a better look at the next room. Buncha fancy shit, some pedestals in the center, and a giant throne behind it. Why the hell did anybody even have this room?

...Probably for trials. Well, that settled it, they weren't in Hopes Peak, this was a shitty knockoff made for killing people! Sweet! Mystery solved! Ace detective Leon Kuwata was back in the groove. He'd be finding murderers left and right if he wasn't put to the electric chair for... murders.

"Alright kiddos! You're finally here, I bet you're all excited if not mind-numbingly terrified *Cough* Toko *Cough*. I could add a rule about not being allowed to be so terrified, you know! It'd make your job much easier as spotless students. Just throw around random statements and when I pop somebody's head off you'll know they did it!"

Holy Bishop Elimine, he loved messing with people, didn't he... Well, Leon was back to loosing his cool and being a dead man.

"Yeah, yeah, look even more terrified, that'll help your case in my threats! You do know that bullies feed off of your negative reactions, you know, be grateful they're talking to you because god all of you are ugly, you all need Face-care Jesus... buuuut I bet you think that's a type of food with what diet that must be giving you those noses..."

Monokuma went on for awhile longer, further delaying the trial and talking all about how stupid these kids were. Was... was this the trial? Was certainly a damn trial to sit through this without trying to strangle someone else...

Wait no Junko what are you doing.

"If you aren't gonna start this damn thing I'm going to beat you into the fucking ground!"

"Uh ah ah, Miss Enoshima. I know you're a bit... err... disappointed by our earlier encounter, you're a glutton for punishment, I bet," Holy fuck bear keep that to yourself, Leon says, owning a stash of idol catgirl(?) magazines. "you look like the type to carry a whip into bed. But rest assured, you'll receive your punishment in due time, with that attitude of yours everyone will think you did it! Whether you did or not you'll get punished anyway as either blackened or a failure to convince your classmates of the contrary!"

...What the hell. What the hell!?!

Y'know he shouldn't be so surprised since he did literally consider this earlier. Still... F-Fuck.

That would've been three heads on his hands, if Junko didn't get outta the way in time.

...No, it wouldn't have been. It would've been zero. Junko and Sayaka did that to themselves. And it was whoevers' fault for getting accused.

Leon Kuwata did not kill anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's time to find a new religion, Leon should stop the direct naming of fictional gods next chapter.
> 
> Comments help, if you think those are fun to write, I like hearing the words from people.


	3. (Deep breaths, Leon, Deep breaths)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this came out like a goddamn mess and I'm very torn as to whether this chapter is good or not, it goes in and out of phases where I was writing well but I can't redo anything without ruining all of the good parts, I feel. This chapter amps up the dumb bullshit going on in Leon's head even more, to the point where it's repetitive and feels like you're reading the same thoughts over with different dialogue happening in the background to accompany it, almost, which is sorta what I wanted to achieve but at the same time it's a bitch to read. This is also waaaay longer than the previous two, I had originally wanted to push this to 10,000 words but realized that was probably more than I needed so cut down to 8,500, but I ended up writing like 9,500 anyway. I probably could've fit in a few more sentences if I really wanted, to make up for this being a few days late (monthly upload schedule, barring the fact the first part came out on like November 2nd, and that chances are I'll take a month or two break after this months' update... y'know what there is no upload schedule we'll be done when Winter 2014 finally hits), after this goes up I'm going to go through the first two chapters so I have the chance to re-do all of the points of exclamation because reasons that I didn't realize until yesterday. Not really important, especially for the previous two chapters, but extra emphasis is nice.
> 
> ...What was I on again? Oh, enjoy, hopefully. If not, there are comments specifically for voicing as such.

Leon Kuwata took another glance around the trial room, clarifying to himself what would happen if he wasn't accused, because he totally needed to think about that. Apparently Junko would die if she was accused no matter if she was killer or not.

What did that tell him? Whoever was accused was going to get punished. Didn't matter if he didn't kill Sayaka (Which he did not do totally), with how fucking crazy stupid he was being everybody would probably vote for him anyway, and whoever killed her would get to walk out free while he was punished for their crime!

This was great. Just fucking great. Another layer of shit on-top of the thousands of other thoughts in his head dedicated to making his survival all that more difficult. A giant wall inside of his own skull built from irrational fears and unrelated dumb shit was blocking him from cartwheeling his way out of this insane asylum.

But he had to tear down that wall. Just take his fist, or a sword, or a knife, or anything, and take a swing. Tear it open. Sayaka tried to kill him. Sayaka died because of her own stupid mistakes. Kanon was stuck on the other side of this fucking wall. His next breath was on the other side of this giant-ass mound of thought processes that were going to fuck off for real this time.

"Anyway, if we're gonna kick off this trial, you need to take your seats! Everybody, pick any pedestal you like as long as it has your name on it. There is no penalty for picking your favorite pedestal. You will be killed. No punishment of any kind, you will be gutted and put on display outside. Nothing wrong with picking the one that speaks to you, I see a painful death in your very near future!"

Not wanting to get fucked before he even had a chance to show off everything he knew (and probably wouldn't share) Leon looked around at the pedestals, same as everyone else. Pacing around the room, most certainly as suspiciously as possible because his had to be far from the front of the room so everyone could get a good goddamn look at him being awkward because that stupid bear wanted to crawl into his ass and eat him from the inside.

Leon finally found his seat, which was sandwiched between Celabrulary Bennetbatch and the bookworm he couldn't even begin to figure out the name of, because of course, only thing worse would be being stuck between Mondo and Sephiroth Hogan's schoolgirl alter-ego.

...Toko, apparently, according to the screen thing on her stand, whatever purpose that was for. The weirdo noticed he was looking over at where she was, making noises and looking even more disgusted than usual. Leon would also be disgusted all the damn time if he looked like she did.

Fuck, enough of that, she probably watched her puppy get eaten by her dad when she was four or some shit, he shouldn't be trashing her, because yes, re-enforcing his stupid panicky unfocused wall was the best course of action at the moment.

He had his place at the trial, ready to begin. Rest of his classmates already were or were just finding their place, all in the same situation as him, with only one difference. He didn't kill anybody, they killed Sayaka, by all accounts that mattered. They'd get punished. He'd get to walk, hop, skip, jump, dive, wall kick, DACUS, throw him the idol while he throws him the whip, whatever the fuck he wanted to do, once he built up enough confidence to steal a bulldozer and flatten this whole damn situation into fine paste.

Fine fucking paste. Perfect for sealing up all of the holes in his ever thinning sanity and holding him together until he can get the hell out of here, find Kanon, and maybe hire a psychologist. Or a psychiatrist. Both? Both! And maybe a support animal or six. Or a support cheerleader. Support portable movie theatre?

"I have one question. What's up with that portrait?"

Oh, yeah, there was trial going on. There's gonna be another explanation for this shit right? Right?

"Ah, yesssss, that..." Keeping himself from thinking about snakes, Leon tried to focus on whatever the hell the bear was going to tell the class. "Well, it would be a shame if any of your friends missed out on this trial just because they were dead! Shame, though, I had Junko's all ready and waiting. You disappoint me, Enoshima. You disappoint me."

"Yes, it's very disappointing I didn't lie down and die!" Junko once again went off running her mouth, while Leon looked over to the 'portrait' mentioned earlier. It... was a portrait, all right. The cable of a microphone wrapped around the neck of Sayaka Maizono, with the mic itself crossing over with the end of the plug to make an x over her face. The face of a snake.

Leon was not going to be thinking about snakes, certainly not pitying them, DEFINITELY not trying to hide the truth about their ultimate faith.

That was right! It's her fault she made a move with a weapon and it backfired, she got herself killed trying to end him. He didn't feel bad for the crazy bitch, and he didn't kill her. Yay for repeating the same facts instead of paying attention!

"Well, this isn't the time for LOOK OUT A GUN fooling around." Monokuma waved one of his small wittle paws around, by the sound of it OH FUCK A GUN WHERE he was ready to talk some more. Sweet, explanation? "I think you all know how this works, right? You ready to see if somebody'll graduate or you'll stay in school? Except for who's dead. They're dead."

fuck

"...So... do we begin now?"

FUCK

"We have certainly spent enough time messing around." Togami responded, because yes let's tell everyone they're being stupid but not stop them from being stupid to begin with, thank you rich people. "So there is no reason not to begin, unless Monokuma has anything ELSE he would like to add?"

"Nope! You kiddos are free to begin your debate!"

Welp. Leon was dead.

"So..." With his question answered, Makoto took the reins again. That wasn't good, he wasn't a dumbass. Why couldn't Toko be taking the offensive? She always argued with everything else, right? Probably. Leon forgot she existed a few times. "Where should we start? I doubt trying to establish alibis for the middle of the night would be very helpful..."

"Whatever the fuck was lodged in Sayaka's stomach was... y'know, obviously the murder weapon." Yeah, Mondo, coming in with the amazing revelations! Look out, Leon, somebody's gonna figure you out! Sarcasm, not sarcasm, whatever the hell that just was, it was weird, so shut up stupid... Leon! "I mean... there was a sword on the ground or something, but I think the thing ACTUALLY in her body was more likely what killed her."

"But... that sword probably looked even more out of place than the rotting carcass in Makoto's bathroom." Yes. Thank you for your input, Ludendict Celebatch. That is a very helpful thing to discuss and will definitely identify the killer, or even throw you off of the totally-not-killers trail! "I, at least, think we should discuss it."

"There's no need... I-It's mine." Super High-School Level Fucking Ninja Makoto Naegi, apparently. Leon had been too busy thinking about granola bars and how birds fly and why there were a bunch of languages in the world to think about the sword, something that might have actually helped him at all to think about. Maybe he was suppressing it which, great, brain, why not suppress the freaking out and the being a fucking idiot?

"Yours? It stood out quite a bit in comparison to the rest of your possessions. Perhaps you took it to commit a crime, in case that other weapon in Sayaka's body wasn't sufficient enough. Based on the state of the walls and furniture, you definitely got some use out of both items." Cadburry Lefcandith not-lolita has a point... Didn't incriminate HIM any but it was closer to what happened. Would be a great time to suppress irrational fear right now, consciousness!

"It's technically from the trophy case by the gym, but... Sayaka suggested I take it, to defend myself with..." Do not make any movement or any noise. Do not snort at the irony or burst out laughing or make any particular fucking movement. You fucking hear Leon Kuwata right now... Leon Kuwata? He's threatening you, you know that!?! "..."

"S-Sounds suspicious... I-I mean taking s-s-something from the t-trophy case? Th-That doesn't s-seem like something an-anybody would consider, I-I mean... s-shouldn't you get p-p-punished for that?" Oh my god Toko's speaking. Making sense, too! It's a miracle. Good job, Toko. If you don't get accused for being suspicious and die you might move up the rankings on Least-to-Most annoying person in the fucking school, currently you're only above Leon Kuwata's stupid goddamn head which is thinking about this stupid ranking system! He has better qualities to rank, like who's killed the least, a list he's definitely at the top of.

"Whether he should've gotten punished or not, he's right." And Junko too, saying an entire sentence without an insult or swear. If your hot tempered-ness wasn't creating enough smoke to cause a tragedy and suffocate an elementary school you'd be up there with Leon in the 'definitely has never killed' lists' leading members! "There was definitely a sword in that case when we got there, a gold one. Could be the same one, I dunno why Makoto decided THAT of all things was a good defensive weapon, though."

"H-How d-do we know y-you're right a-a-about the s-sword? A-And... m-maybe Makoto t-took the sword to m-m-murder someb-body with!" Man, this would be a nice time for a cool drink. Help him figure out that list of 'definitely has never killed', Toko was making too much sense she was definitely going to rank dead last.

"Is it really likely that he would just ADMIT to having taken the sword if he used it in the murder?" Back to Togami. He's fancy enough to afford drinks that fall from the sky when he claps. Wonder how much that costs... "For all of his shortcomings, I think Makoto's intelligence is likely the one thing that shouldn't be called into question, not yet, at least."

"T-Thanks, Byakuya..." The last person to call Makoto's intelligence into question was almost stabbed by a pop-star, so it probably wasn't a good idea to do that. Wait, Togami just insulted Makoto's backbone, not his brai, god fucking dammit Leon can you remember anything right!?! Next you're gonna say you killed somebody! "We can discuss how I specifically did it once we establish how it was done..."

"That sounded like a confession to me!" Oh god DAMMIT Leon there was a trial going on seriously stop thinking about dumb shit! Stop thinking in general! "Man, I'm good at this."

"That didn't sound ANYTHING like a confession! And this isn't a game! You can't be 'good' at it!" Well, TECHNICALLY, a certain baseball player was doing very good at it, so... Uh... Owned, idiot! "Do you STILL thing this is an opening ceremony or something?"

"I mean, what else could it be? Who the heck could afford to set all this up other than Hope's Peak, who would conveniently, have Hope's Peak to set all of this up in!" When did 'owned' even become slang or dialect, was it like derived from servants and slaves? Did it even qualify as slang or was its' use so widespread it was just 'regular'.

"..." Why did language have so many classifications that simply made things more fucking complicated? Why did 'classifications' exist when he could just say types?

"Can we get back on topic?" Sure thing, sugarplum. Or... eggplant. Eggplant was probably more fitting. Or prunes. "We have a murder trial we need to declare a verdict for, and I doubt we have all day."

"Yep, yep, yep. I'm getting kind of bored, already, if I get too bored and you aren't ready, well... pretty sure I already said the punishment." NO YOU DIDN'T YOU PIECE OF SHIT well okay yeah he probably did but leon wasnt paying attention so that didnt count

There was a certainly real and possible possibility he missed the explanation again, okay, it was definitely confirmed he missed the explanation again, because he was too busy comparing Kyoko to vegetables, and thinking about some other shit. There was like, five minutes of talking at the beginning he tuned out while complaining about how he wasn't listening. Yay!

Well, Monokuma probably said something and he just wasn't paying attention, point is. Why he wasn't paying attention... he was dumb, idiotic, ignorant, a motherfucker, too busy thinking about how he's better at walking than that Kazuichi kid he met in the park when he was like 9, take your pick. Completely ignoring his amazing skills of deducing that he fucked up horribly. Argh... at least he wasn't a murderer or some shit.

"Alright, so... what do we discuss then? The sword isn't gonna get us anywhere right now..." Getting back on track, that Leon Kuwata is. So proud! "Maybe the weapon that actually killed Sayaka?"

"Now now, I don't think we should move on JUST yet." And back to not paying attention. Shut the hell up, Calebruh Lesterlile. Or... Celestia as her stand said. Cadendach Leidenlack. "We do not ACTUALLY know what weapon it was that killed Sayaka. The... item, lodged in her stomach may very well have been placed after the fact, to create some confusion in the case."

"Why the hell would anybody do that? Hell, why would anybody think to do that?" As the guy who committed the murder, hypothetically speaking, in a scenario where he committed the murder which totally wasn't reality, faking a murder weapon didn't occur to him at all. Hell, hiding his crime really didn't either. He threw his jacket away, yeah, but that was because it was dirty, and he had like seven of them... and... wait...

"Well, I don't know about you," Cadbuckle Legionarie turned to face Leon, her hand by her mouth. "but I would think that changing everything possible about the crime scene would be a good time waster to prevent the investigators from finding out the truth. Obviously, if you do a poor job, then it is pointless, but as it currently stands, I don't see any other explanation for the switched nameplates on the doors, as Monokuma claimed to not be interfering."

"But... we were never told about the trial until AFTER Sayaka was murdered, right? Nobody would know they had to hide the crime, so why waste the effort?" ...He cleaned up the floor because he thought it'd look nice. All good detectives cleaned the floor at all of the murder sites they visited while investigating who killed the idol. Also, when the fuck did Monokuma say that? Didn't he straight up point out like three people as likely candidates?

"I... Suppose you ARE right. Hmm." Oh sweet she shut up. Such an occasion was worth thinking about music and further not paying attention to the trial. "Well, I do not believe it would be TOO MUCH of a stretch that somebody would attempt to hide it regardless, I don't think it's too unreasonable to think that you'd need to get away with it, as we aren't in a gladiators stadium, but a new lifestyle. Nobody has attempted a mass slaughter at the dining table."

"There's no way to prove the killer thought about that, is there?" The ace... fucking everything, waited for a reply. She was standing right next to him, and there was no response. Spoke a thousand words, not speaking at all. It did. Yep. "Well, is there?"

"We shouldn't rule out the possibility yet, after all, what other explanation for the switched nameplates is there?" Oh god DAMN you vegetable "Of course, we shouldn't take it as fact that the killer thought they might need to hide their crime, and tried to do so with confusion. There could just as likely be an explanation we haven't discovered yet."

Welp, his job was done for now, assuming he didn't want to run his mouth and say he did it, which he didn't. Back to trailing off after realizing he for some reason cleaned all of the hair off of the floor. He just really hated it being dirty. Seriously, none of his hair was even ON the floor, he went over the whole damn thing twice!

"Well, whatever the hell the deal is, let's hurry this the fuck up." Yeah, hurry this the fuck up. Do that. Good job, biker man. "We actually need to stop wasting time. Let's get to like... discussing the goddamn weapon, maybe?"

"Hey... Leon, didn't you say you investigated the kitchen?" Oh wow okay thanks for putting your man on the spotlight, Makoto. "You said the weapon was probably a knife, right?"

"Yeah, one of the biggest knives is missing, and I'm pretty sure the handle is the same. Didn't get a good look at the body, but I'm pretty sure it looked like it from the Monokuma file." Saved. Wait shit Makoto had the Monokuma File he could say he never looked at it. Yes, lead Leon right into a trap. God. Actual. Fucking. Threedicked. Piggy. Dammit.

"If I recall correctly, Leon never got a chance to look over the Monokuma File in the gym." Oh FUCK YOU CAHDEGRE LICKLOGAN "Does anyone recall seeing him read it after the rest of us began to investigate?"

The dumbass in the spotlight saw not-lolita lolita glance around the room, waiting for a reply, but he chose now of all times to choke. Leon began repelling thoughts of beating himself down for being such a dumb fuck. Ruining his life, damn asshole! Probably fuggen ending it too!!! Stop ending it, you screeching cunt!!!

"I had it when we left the gym... and I gave it to him shortly afterwards for him to read." Star and Savior, Chihiro Fiji-Water or whatever her last name was, thank you. He could've said that at any time himself, but nope he had to wait for more suspicion to come his way by sitting there quietly without answer. Are there like... legal benefits he can get like being able to opt out of the fucking game for free because he's stupid?

"AND he handed it over to me later, so I don't think there's any doubt that he saw the body AFTER the murder." The best bet was to get Makoto accused, because, totally him, the murder was in his room... which sucked because he wasn't a bastard. But... it was going to be somebody innocent, probably, or maybe he did it who cares!

"As it currently stands, there's nothing suggesting Leon, or ANYONE, in particularly committed the crime. We still have some case left to whittle away before we come to such conclusions." And Makoto passes off to the ever mysterious vegetable, fuck yeah, shit why was he thinking about sports in his murder trial and why was he mentally backhanding his own ass about how he isn't paying ANY GODDAMN ATTENTION for like the 27th time today. "Since we've apparently gotten discussion of the weapon out of the way for now, maybe we could move onto anything else, like the state of the body?"

"What can we discuss about the body?" Probably how there was a weapon in it, and it was covered in blood, and it was in the bathroom... and... how it was like... a body. Well, that was still four more things than Hina could come up with, that was at least 40% better.

"Oh, I know. Sayaka was in the bathroom, right? She was probably caught off-guard while she was busy and was stabbed or something!" Yep. That happened. Somebody get this man a gold star. The entire giant fucking thing, like, the sun, but gold. He can sell it or something assuming its' presence didn't screw with gravity and the atmosphere and everything else so badly to where everyone died horribly.

"I don't think so. The room was covered in slash marks, and the golden sword definitely looked like it was touched." Makoto, the trial leader at it again, why can't he just have a debate with himself and everybody votes for his conclusion? "The sword is... poorly coated in gold, it comes right off if you touch it. I didn't touch the hilt when I carried it to my room since it had a stand to rest it on, but most of the gold is gone now."

Ah, so THAT'S where all that gold shit came from. The gold shit that he definitely saw around the murder scene and not on his own cold hands when washing the blood off, the blood that he got from a paper cut and not a crime, a paper cut that he also didn't have, as there was no blood. Period.

"That covers the issue of if the sword was used or not, as if there was much doubt seeing the slashes on the walls..." Oh hai like 7 foot absolute unit, Leon couldn't read her screen from over here. Her name was like, Hakaru or something. Madoka? It was some anime protagonist name with six letters. Ginjka, Benkei, Honcho, Wakiya... "But what of the swords' sheath? It seemed broken or beaten."

"I highly doubt anyone would be so careless as to leave it like that while in the case-!" Oh you also exist Mr. Kiyotaka man, the book definition of stick up your ass, welcome back to the land of people who are speaking! Your everything is still loud and annoying! "So Makoto must have caused the sheath some harm while it was in his possession! Explain yourself, moving and dealing damage to such an object, a hard-earned trophy!"

"Or... Maybe it got slashed when whoever the killer was was fighting Sayaka? How would he even have managed to make such a deep gash in it unless he dropped it from a third story window or something, and we can't get past the first floor, let alone open any of the windows." And back to Junko. Better than Kiyotaka, for damn sure, her voice COULD be less than nails on chalk, when she wasn't yelling while his head was throbbing. "A knife alone didn't make the cuts on the walls, not of that size especially. You ever swung a sword? How about cut something in the kitchen? They'd make different slits, 'cause of the size of the blade, plus some other factors."

"And why, exactly, do you happen to know such details about swords and knives, the weapons used in the murder?" Lay off Culedra Lardleybutch, Junko is slightly more likable and slightly less aggravating! Can't touch that bitch, bitch! Err... Shouldn't, since who's gonna do anything about it? Leon??? Fuck no!

"Had some money and defending yourself is a skill anybody wants to know, not to mention I actually cook my own meals." Junko seemed unfazed, good for her not being suspicious. Leon scribbled a mental note to ask if she gave out lessons, assuming, you know, they didn't fucking DIE... One of them was dying totally with how stupid and careless they were acting. N-N-Not him, though, c-certainly, d-definitely not him. "Any other questions? Let's get back to the damn trial, and the sword. There was a fight, we can agree that much, right?"

"I think it's a worthwhile possibility to explore for now," That's right Junko's been running around breaking rules almost getting stabbed and not caring about her safety at all! She needed somebody else to keep her ass in line. But if that man was like Kiyotaka, yeah, death was almost fucking preferable. Thankfully Leon didn't have to worry about that. Death, that is, since everything was fine and he could blow this whole trial wide open and do an acrobatic fucking pirouette out the giant gaping hole he makes. "Junko, you were suggesting the sheath was hit with the knife, correct?"

"Yeah, that and the scratches on the wall weren't all made by a knife."

"So... Based on all of that, I think we can get a clear picture of what probably went down." We can? Well, sure, whatever you say, third or so best voice in the room explaining things is fine by him, so long as she isn't fucking with him like whatever that was in the elevator... She isn't dumb, no way she'd already cleared him of suspicion right then...

"Right. It was clear there was a fight, most likely that the killer and Sayaka ended up fighting one another, probably that Sayaka tried to use the sword after she got assaulted by whoever had the knife." In another life, Makoto, in another life. But who cares, there is a vegetable to think about, and also curse about. What was your game, what was your angle? Stupid fucking... Kyoko! Leon had 0% of a mind (He exhausted both halves of his mind already) to start an interrogation right here. Definitely a killer or a mastermind right there. Also, why all the purple. Seriously, like, the jacket, sure, goes nice with your hair, but the skirt is just too much, and those gloves, urgh. "A fight going down is the only explanation I can think of for all of the slashes, unless we're sold on the idea that everything was done just to make us waste time."

"Mr. Naegi," Oh yeah Hifumi something or other also exists, by fuckin' Durandal and Hauteclere, this was like a small classroom he should be able to remember these people. But this was all gonna be over soon, so what was the point? Yes, excusing even the little things! Wait, no, not excusing, explaining. Perfect. "Did we not investigate the trash room and find all sorts of mishaps caused? I can't think of any explanation, perhaps wasting time WAS the motive?"

"Please, enlighten us as to what purpose the trash room serves, considering only one of us can even enter the room at any given moment." Oh, yeah, trash room. That was a concept that existed. Monokuma explained that for fucken ever ago. Wasn't his turn, so he didn't care any, or maybe he was just stupid and couldn't pay attention to anything. Yep, that was it, he didn't even know they were in a killing game no fucking way he COULD even kill somebody!

"Well, the incinerator was on, there was some broken glass by the incinerator, as well as a piece of a white jacket." WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN A PIECE OF A WHITE JACKET LEON WAS LOOKING FOR THAT TOTALLY WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING EARLIER ONE OF HIS JACKETS JUST WENT MISSING YESTERDAY "Hifumi claims that he left the incinerator off, so either he tampered with the trash room or something weird is going on... but..."

"Clearly, it must have been deliberate, is that what you're about to say?" LEON STOP THINKING JESUS CHRIST TOKO CAN PROBABLY FEEL THE RAW FEAR RADIATING FROM YOUR FUCKING HEAD YOU IDIOT "Certainly not impossible, but it also likely gives us more than enough to implicate Hifumi, unless you can find another explanation."

"Well, while Hifumi is certainly most likely due to being the only one with a key to the trash room gate, a few of us wear white jackets. Other than Hifumi, Leon and Taka also wear similarly colored clothes. While he's not wearing one now, I'm pretty sure Mondo owns a few white jackets, and I think Chihiro has a white jacket under her green one, right?" YAY A LEON UNDER THE BUS FUCKING PERFECT WOOHOO

"Yeah, there's a jacket... more like a shirt, really... s-something under here, point is..." SHUT UP SHUT UP THE FUCK SHUT THE UP SHUT YOUR FUCK UP sHIT THE FUCK UP FUCK THE UP FUCK IT UP IT'S SHUT THE FUCK UP CAN YOU EVEN SAY THAT RIGHT LEON GODDAMN KUWATA

"So, basically all the guys are suspicious, huh? I knew it. Guys are suspicious." YOU ArE A GUY YOU FUCKIJNG IDIOT "Still, what about the glass? Does anybody even own glass stuff?"

"...Hiro, didn't I talk to you earlier where you identified the glass as your crystal ball?" oh so it was his i mean duh GOD DAMMIT IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER

"Oh, yeah. That's mine." The clairvoyant resumed a lax position which gOOD FOR HIM GETTING TO BE SO CALM THE DICKHEAD IF HE WASN'T SO STUPID TO THINK THIS WASN'T REAL HE'D BE THE ONE STANDING HERE INSTEAD "Hey, who the heck broke my crystal ball?"

"Most likely the culprit! Hifumi! Explain yourself!"

"Now hold on, if I were the culprit, why would I lead Mr. Naegi to the trash room to investigate, and why would I bring it up during the trial? If I could access the trash room, I would probably make a good job of making sure I didn't leave behind anything, either." Makes sense. WHY thE FUCK COULDN'T HE HAVE ANY EXCUSES GRAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Of course, there is still the, admittedly unlikely, possibility that you left behind 'evidence' intentionally to give yourself an excuse to get out of other accusations." Also makes sense. Damn, who the hell was right? HIFUMI BECAUSE FUCK FUCK FUCK LEON WAS DEAD

Oh also shut the fuck up Cederlecal Rubenbrzak.

"There is, yes, but we've done enough discussing who, there are still several things about the 'how' that we have yet to establish." oh shit is he off the hook for now thanks vegetable "For example, the odd state of Sayaka's hands."

Pushing off the thoughts of a vegetable, how he might actually eat that one or whatever the hell, Leon's thoughts continued racing and bouncing and tripping over themselves trying to grab hold of his attention, replacing every vegetable thought with something else, something even LESS helpful to his current situation, somehow.

"Her... hands?" Hina advanced the conversation, or maybe it was Chihiro, he wasn't paying enough fucking attention to what they were saying.

"Yeah... Sayaka's left hand had a bit of blood on one of the fingers, and her right wrist was broken." Zoning out of the conversation now would probably be fatal, so thankfully Leon could remember (hypothetically) hitting Sayaka's right wrist with a sword, the yelp she let out, the knife clattering to the floor... a sound he's never heard so he was just guessing, a knife probably sounded similar to a Leon falling over and to the floor, right? Right! Yep. That was probably what it'd sound like, still... why the blood on her finger? He didn't notice that himself...

"If there was a fight, it would be reasonable to assume Sayaka lost, and that's where she got the injuries on her hands." From the perspective of somebody imagining and not having actually committed such a crime, made sense. Ultimate Street Fighter Alpha III or whatever her title was would probably also be able to figure that out, considering she just said so. He should probably speak up again himself, right? Right. When the rest of his brain stops fucking screaming he'll start talking again. But it wasn't because THERE WAS A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY HE WOULD DIE RIGHT NOW for a crime he'd stated he hadn't committed so many times at this point repeating it was like breathing.

"It seems likely, but blood specifically on one finger on her left hand? How possible was it that she was struck on only one finger, not getting any blood on the rest of her left hand?" ...You know, Leon actually had no fucking idea what that meant. Welp, time to discuss that for thirty minutes and pray that wastes enough time to where everybody gets bored and just says Makoto did it. Makoto Naegi. Average fellow, who would expect him? He isn't weirdo, crazy murder material, the ideal cover up story, if only Monokuma didn't fuck him with the location of the murder. Everyone would logically suspect Cudestri Rudemuck first, and Togami second. Probably Toko or Junko third... "I think a few of us, at least, saw exactly what this meant."

"...Do... do you mean..." Okay good Makoto was going to explain, Leon had no idea what the hell vegetable was talking about, lucky him! Makoto, you can be ultimate totally the murderer, Leon's the lucky ducky around here. "11037?"

Whatever the hell that was, wasn't important to him, so good, breather room to get his ass in shape. Come the hell on, Leon. Once again, if it weren't a dead giveaway, he'd probably break down and start hitting himself, holy fucken bandy. Congratulations for all fucking day being him doing the same shit because once a fucking gain he couldn't shut up to himself.

He'd been paying no attention to this stupid trial, or the stupid rules, or anybody in this room and how they all know he did it and how he killed somebody and how it was a mistake and how he was happy with pretending he didn't do anything wrong and how he was ACTUALLY fine with having killed somebody and, and-

...No, N-No, he was going to fucking get through this. He fucking had to. Nothing else mattered. Everybody else was their own goddamn responsibility and he didn't care about any of them. It was him or them and they would all pick themselves at any moments notice, and he was going to be picking them. He would be fucking fine. He had nothing to worry about. He had no reason to be shaking, no reason to push back, no reason to swing wildly, hoping to hit. It was like fucking... skipping baseball practice. Didn't even need to think about not doing it. Hear that, rest of the brain? It's all cool. All cool.

"...So, Sayaka wrote '11037' on the wall, you must know what it means if you thought it worth bringing up, correct?" 11037 was established, but Leon didn't even know that was there... time wasted, he was fine. Leon had thinned his doubts and anxieties a good amount, so that was good and fun and shit. Thoughts were like battles, that's too many, put some of them back, which he was currently doing, doing good, even! "Well, go on. Tell the class, Makoto."

"...If you were against a wall, you were writing with your hand on it, and you were facing away... you would be writing with upside down." Legendary detective Makoto Naegi... Wait. What. Sayaka... wrote...? "If you were to turn it upside down..."

Leon visualized whatever the hell "11037" was upside down... only to realize Makoto was holding up a picture with his handbook, also doing the rotating for him.

ㄥƐ0ƖƖ

"The two ones barely have a line between them, I think, anyway... and..."

"Oh... Oh! So it wasn't 11037... but... b-but...!"

"Oh my..." Celestia Ludenberg turn to her side, facing the Ultimate Baseball player just accused of a crime, that smile of hers still plastered on her face. "Now, now. Leon, do you have anything to say about that?"

"So... so what? Do we have any proof that was even real? Just a bunch of squiggles that happen to kinda look like my damn name." Leon turned himself away from Celeste, facing towards where Makoto was. Smart, real smart. But...

He wasn't giving up now. Maybe it was because he cleared himself the hell up five seconds ago, or maybe it was because he didn't even know about this, or maybe it's because he suddenly just got smart... but he wasn't terrified. Not to the point of losing his cool, anyway, there was enough of him to cut any thoughts of fear to pieces. That could certainly break within seconds aaaaand now he psyched himself out again fuck. Reel it the hell back in, Leon, this is a dream and you're still passed out on the floor of your room before breakfast. Nothing is wrong.

"In a murder scenario, anything and everything must be considered as a possible clue to the crime. I think there's some basis for discussion, even if I disagree that we can make a case against you out of '11037'." Know what, Leon, think about vegetables. Not like, bad tasting vegetables that look like dried seaweed, but the type that's actually gonna give a chance, the one that's been giving out chances since shit started going down. "I think the print is too fine to have been less than an accident, the N aside."

"Well, sure, all the more reason it might be fake. Sayaka probably couldn't write that well while dying, could she? The fact that there was only one mistake in what would otherwise be perfectly square handwriting is weird, if you ask me." He DID want to kick himself, badly, for somehow missing this thing, but this wasn't the time for kicking. Fucking everybody else was calm, 'cept Toko but she was always shaking and looking like she was repulsed. Be more like not-Toko! "I mean, I'm kinda biased considered I'M BEING ACCUSED, but still! Is it really that likely?"

"Well, how about this then?" Looks like Junko wants a piece, then. The defendant was happy to oblige, there's enough Leon to go to at least two people at that point the rest will come out and he'll breakdown! "You ran away early, didn't you? After... I almost got stabbed, you just ran. You could have killed, then added that message there as a fake in case you got cornered."

"B-But... why the h-heck would we even s-s-suspect him to b-begin with if he didn't p-put his name down?" Oh, thanks, Toko. Now that was something he needed to think about, being a dick to Toko, internally, like kicking a sick three year old, but not actually and just fantasizing about it. Still fucking awful, still what he was doing, still something that could send him back into full fucking panic mode if he thought about it more! "J-Just seems stupid to m-me... As s-stupid as Leon's hair, a-anyway."

"You know I'm right next to you, and you just voiced defense for me, maaaaybe don't insult me? I can throw baseballs as fast as cars, you know."

"Aaaaagh! I-Is th-that a threat? Get the hell away from me y-you w-wastrel!!!"

"If you two aren't going to get a room, please leave that behavior for another time." Hey Togami wanna trade seats Toko isn't cool anymore and you probably have experience dealing with smug asshats and people who actually know the word wastrel "For now, answer me this, then. If Leon WASN'T responsible, then why the crystal ball and piece of burnt white jacket in the trash room?"

Ah. He had forgotten about the trash room. Trash room. Crystal ball. Jacket he tossed for no reason. Tensions were rising, VERY much rising. Fuck.

Well he still wasn't crying yet so he had some hope, probably, just... something, come on, come on-

"There IS our earlier theory of that a variety of things were done simply to throw us off of what actually happened, it may very well have been Hifumi, or perhaps even someone else if they could somehow get into the trash room." Hey vegetable wanna trade seats with Toko you're prettier and less of an ass. "But for now, let's consider why these items even implicate Leon to begin with. Makoto, I believe you can think of an explanation?"

Hahaha, on the spotlight now, arentcha? Leon didn't know what the hell he was doing, attempting to amuse himself with the same thoughts on the verge of smashing his rationality and calmness to tiny little shards to not freak out any more? Just being stupid? Who fucking knew, but it was sorta helping him!

"...Well... The crystal ball was around where the button to turn the incinerator on was. If Hifumi the killer and was trying to throw us off, a jacket that would more likely point towards him than anyone else isn't a risk he'd be likely to take. In fact, the trash room in general only implicates him. It's not impossible he was the killer, but for now, let's assume he isn't, so we can consider other possibilities."

Suspicion levels were either 37% or 92%, and Leon had no fucking idea which was scarier. On one hand, he'd braced himself finally when under the goddamn spotlight, stopped sweating bullets and actively bullying himself at least, on the other, come onnnnnn it was him he was gonna burst and whoop! End of Evangeleon when that happened.

Yep, getting back off track then thinking about that getting back on track in turn is the best thing to do when being directly questioned.

"Let's say that Hifumi wasn't responsible, if so, that means either somebody stole the key from him or somebody managed to activate the incinerator without the key. You don't technically NEED to be in the room to activate the incinerator, since you need to press a button, and the gate preventing access has a lot of holes in it. Of course... How would you even reach the back of the room, though?"

Makoto glanced around the room a few times, waiting for a response, be it the answer or another question. Leon, obviously, didn't give any such reply, because THERE WE GO RIGHT ON THE MONEY FOR WHAT TOTALLY HAPPENED well actually totally not but hypothetically THERE WE FUCKING GO

"If you know the answer yourself, why not share with the class? If not Leon or Hifumi, you're likely our biggest suspect." Hey, didn't you imply you literally knew the answer? Wait fUCK DON'T SAY ANYTHING OR A BASEBALL PLAYER WILL USE TOKO TO BEAT YOUR ASS

"...Let's assume that the incinerator was turned on by the killer, and Hifumi was not the killer. If so, how would they get to the incinerator without using the key? If they could hit the button, it's turned on. Maybe..." AFTER YOUR ASS IS BEAT WITH A TOKO YOUR ASS-REMAINS WILL BE TURNED INTO CHERRY PIE AND THEN SERVED TO PEASANTS EATING WITH THEIR GODDAMN FEET "...something, something like the crystal ball, was thrown at it?"

"So... Hiro's crystal ball was thrown at the switch? But..." ONCE THEY'RE DONE THE REMAINS WILL BE TOSSED TO LITERAL PIGS TO MONCH AWAY ON ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR LEGACY BEING PIG FEED TOGAMI" That has to be like fifteen feet back. I don't think I could throw that far, or anybody, really, not with something like that crystal ball."

"But there is definitely somebody here with enough experience to make such a throw, or rather, a pitch."

VEGETABLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"...So, how about it, Leon?" Oh also MAKOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO "Do you have anything else to say in return?"

"I suppose the suspicion is back on you after all, isn't it?" You don't even deserve to have your terrible stupid long name not actually called out in vein, so, instead SAYAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA "I would also like to hear your defense, how, might I ask, can you explain all the signs pointing to you?"

"What fucking signs are you talking about!?! All you have is a bunch of theories. You don't have the evidence to prove any of this shit. Where's the proof? You aren't giving us any proof!" He was in for it now, he was fucking in for it now, and he didn't exactly have that many convenient escape ropes to kiss all of this shit goodbye "When the hell did we even clear Makoto of first suspicion anyway?"

"We didn't, but do we really need to? How else do you explain the mess in the laundry room?" Junko fiddled with her hair, before glancing over at who she was talking to, who was VERY MUCH REGRETTING HER NOT GETTING STABBED "If Makoto did it, how did he get in to plant evidence that it was you, or throw far enough to hit the mark on the incinerator? If it was Hifumi, why the hell would he go in the trash room!"

"You've got no fucking way of proving that Makoto couldn't make that throw, not unless he makes it again, without faking it! You still don't have any damn evidence against me either! How the hell did I get into Makoto's room if I killed her, huh? Did she just let me in? How did Makoto not fucking know!?!"

"...S-Sayaka said... s-she said that somebody was trying to get into her room, so she wanted to switch. But..."

She was just playing you like a damn... A damn cello.

"Makoto, have you ever used the notepad in your room?" Anything that got the discussion away from him, oh jesus thank you. Being focused on his goddamn trial wasn't worth being under the spotlight. He was calm. He had answers. And they splattered all over the floor for him to try and pick up, cutting himself on every single one, showing the bloodstains for everybody to see.

"No, I haven't... Why do you ask?" He'd denied the crime, as poorly as he could, but he denied it. Because... b-because it wasn't his fault. Sayaka was the one with a crime on her head, but he was getting punished. He was going to be punished for this crime.

"I think there's something we should all take a look at." A crime he didn't commit, sacrificing to escape, trickery, betrayal... Sayaka was who did it all. Sayaka did it. Leon was the victim. He was the victim, and he was going to be punished. Everyone else was glaring at him or looking as if everything was fucking fine, as if they weren't the goddamn same. If any one of them was the victim, they'd be getting glares and contempt from everyone else. He wasn't evil. He wasn't fucking wrong.

If Sayaka was here, they'd be doing the same fucking thing to her. But now, she had ALL of their fucking pity. She was the goddamn monster. And he wasn't defending himself against being told otherwise.

Leon prepared to speak again, but a fricken stupid god DAMNED dog shit of a fucking vegetable showed the class all they needed to continue on their merry way of sticking their cocks into his window and making him look at them.

"...A... A note? Where did you find that?"

"A simple trick, when you write on a piece of paper, the lead will often go through it into any other papers under it, if any. While we don't know any recipient, Sayaka worded her message quite oddly, don't you think?"

"The fuck's so odd about it? Come to her room, so she can kill you, that backfired on her hard, apparently!"

He wasn't picking his words, he wasn't paying attention, he didn't fucking care. He may as well throw shit at the wall and hope that he somehow covers up the right crap to not get buttfucked.

"I was GOING to talk about how odd it was that she specifically mentioned to find her nameplate as if that wasn't obvious, but I would like to know why you assumed this note was asking to kill someone, Leon."

Oh, fuck.

Fuck.

"Leon, did... d-did you kill her?" Makoto's voice shook, but not nearly as much as Leon's whole body did. "Did... did Sayaka try to kill you?"

"Hell no, and do you think if I did I'd admit it? I'm not a dumbass!!!" If he was thinking about it, he'd know that the end part of that was wrong, but he wasn't thinking about it, he just knew the first part was.

There was something contradictory about that, fuckin' good for him, the only contradiction he'd been able to find all damn day.

"The facts are stacked up against you, do you have any defense?" More than you have, Junko, you should be fucking dead. "You look like you've got something to say. Go on. Speak."

"You still haven't established what happened in Makoto's room other than Sayaka getting fucked after trying to kill somebody! At least look at ALL of the facts first, you gave Makoto a fair chance, how the hell is this right!?!"

"I would like to see a world where you're speechless, so how about this, then?" If it wasn't going to damn him even more than he already fucking was, Celestia over here would be the next person to die. "Sayaka attacked you, you grabbed the sword, you hit her in the wrist, she ran into the bathroom while you picked up the knife she dropped, and you took advantage of the situation to kill her. How about that?"

"I can't find any holes in that logic..." Maybe try SAYING SOMETHING next time and you'll be able to poke through something so flimsy. There...

Th-the fucken... the...

Wh-what about the carpet? Yeah! It's clean! Doesn't point to him, if he was in a sword fight his hair would probably be everywhere!

"If you're going to look so annoyed at what I assume is Celeste's hair, I assume you're going to bring up the completely used lint roller? Exactly, if you're still aiming to pin Makoto for YOUR crime, tell me why he would clean up his hair from his own room."

Leon closed his eyes, the image of cutting vegetables filling his head, while clumping together his sorry fucking excuse for an answer.

"Alright, so you covered basically everything weird about the crime scene, sure, and you've narrowed it down to me or Hifumi assuming hypothetically nobody else could make that damn throw which could be completely unrelated! But what about the door? Why is the door fucked up!?!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, which I am not, but didn't you spent all of the investigation period in the kitchen?" And how did you know that if you weren't the mastermind, Togami!? "You weren't even present when we originally discovered the body, not inside of Sayaka's room, anyway, regardless, if you were outside of it, how could you possibly see that the door was not in proper condition from there?"

"After the investigation began, he was in Sayaka's room before the rest of us left the gym." The real, not cut-up face of a vegetable switched to defending the murderer. She just wanted to fuck with him, she's been fucking with him for the past day. "Don't forget emotions" bullshit, you haven't felt a thing a day in your life, cruel, stupid, unable to think because you're a vegetable vegetable. "That's one part of his story that I can't doubt. It's certainly plausible that he noticed then, although we can't prove or dispute the fact."

"Still not enough to get him off the damn hook, though. He murdered a chick in cold blood, even if she attacked him first. If it's like we say, dude had the chance to walk away when she ran into the bathroom, right?" Mondo, Mondo, Mondo. You wouldn't fucking do the same thing. You'd be sitting here, in the same goddamn position, don't pretend it isn't bullcock.

"Even if we can't prove he couldn't have seen the door's broken state previously, we CAN discuss how the door was broken, and why. The girls' rooms have locks, so to get in without messing with the locks, you would need something... something like the toolkits every boy has?"

"...What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Did you not pay attention to the explanations about our living space when Naegi was so rudely unconscious? At least he had the decency to not provide an excuse, and owe up to his mistake, but you?" Leon should've taken his fucken L. Accepted his fucking death. Walked over to this idiot and choked him while Monokuma summoned his spear to impale him in his fucking skull, penetrating his goddamn eye in some fucked up guro shitshow. "You were wide awake when Monokuma informed us all on Day 1 that all of us boys had toolkits, did you forget?"

"If need be... I-I think Monokuma can vouch, my bathroom door doesn't work properly, so you might think it was locked if you... if you didn't know it was a boys room!"

"Oh, yeah. That note... it was like Sayaka wanted Leon to come to your room, and... Hey, maybe she switched the nameplates to get Leon to come into your room so she could kill him, then blame it on you! Makes sense to me." That's a miracle, you don't understand the concept of milk cartons.

"So, every piece of the puzzle has been solved, can we agree? Sayaka told Makoto to switch rooms, switched the nameplates, gave Leon a note, tried to kill him, was hit with the sword, Leon went back to his room to get the toolk-"

"Hold on, what the fuck are you even talking about, the 'toolkit'?" Cendserson Rehabrickle was no stranger to saying complete shit, matched her face, personality, choice in clothes, and hairstyle, really, but even he couldn't admit defeat there.

Admit defeat.

He was dead. He was dead. He was fucking dead. He'd accepted it. He was dead, he'd never find out about that goddamn video. This game would be the last fucking thing he'd be able to see. His final moments were spent being the worst liar in on the fucking planet. He admitted it. N-No... No. He didn't. He wasn't dead. He.

"The toolkit that you used to try and pry open the door, considering its' broken state. The only way you could've ripped a door handle near off is if you removed the screws. So, Leon, care to tell us what the deal with your toolkit is? Show us, even? And 'you lost it' isn't going to cut it."

"...I haven't even touched it! I-I swear!"

Kyoko Vegetable Kirigiri (That was her last name right?) almost let out a smile, before resuming her stern expression. Must've been hilarious to her, him saying the damn facts. He never opened his toolkit.

He wasn't a killer, just a victim.

He didn't kill Sayaka Maizono.

"Well then, can you show it to us? Would you happen to have it on you, completely unopened, with a giant sticker with your name on it? 'Leon Kuwata's toolkit, mint condition, selling on ebay?'" Haha, hilarious, Togami, actually... he could probably gift it to Kanon as a joke.

"No... it's in my room. Haven't even touched it, other than moving it aside for other stuff. Not like I can get up from the trial and get it, but you're taking vegetable's unproved bullshit and Makoto's claims as fact, what's different about me?"

"Mind if I chime in~!" JESUS FUCK HI MONOKUMA YOU'RE STILL HERE "This is a very special occasion, so don't expect me to do this again, but I REALLY want to see where you're going with this, Kuwata, so I'll let you take us on a field trip. Don't disappoint me, I am a not-licensed dentist, with a lot of small drills that need testing and a severe lack of test subjects."

"While were here, can I ask why you didn't chime in when Makoto mentioned you earlier? Don't most dogs come when you say their name?"

"...Hagakure, please, just... just get in the elevator!"

Murmurs, looks, and a vegetable's cold expression all filled the room, and Leon (and Hagakure) walked towards the elevator. He wasn't going to waste the gracious gift the Dog of Mercy, terrible puns, and death bestowed upon him. A chance to shake things up for him, and a chance for him to show what really happened.

He was going to turn this trial around, and expose the truth to his classmates.


	4. ...The opposite of Kill and Live, whatever that was

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this chapter was a mess, for very different reasons than normal, it just, to me, feels different from the rest, like I tried to write a completely different type of story with this one. One that, instead of describing thought, describes action and emotion. Hopefully I'm just looking for something wrong where there isn't any, because I think this chapter came out good otherwise, somehow. Anyway, I said last time there would be no Chapter in February, but I decided to change that, I had too many ideas for a next chapter I can't wait until March to write, so uh... Look forward to that, if you even like this story. This chapter was supposed to be out yesterday but I ended up revising the ending completely, what will be the next chapter is a combination of two earlier endings for this chapter. It'll feature more other characters, so the fact I tagged the entirety of DR1's cast but haven't used Sakura, Taka, Aoi, and arguably Chihiro, Mondo, and Hiro to any important metric will be remedied. Hopefully.
> 
> While last chapters' main source of inspiration was a comment I got on Chapter 2, thanks ChamomileCat, this chapter sorta got going while I was playing Your Turn To Die, great game, not entirely dissimilar to Danganronpa, actually. Hopefully if I need inspiration for the next chapter, it'll come again, maybe in the form of like AI Builds or something. Who knows.

Leon Kuwata moved to the back of the elevator, joined by Hagakure soon after, and everyone else after that. All together in this stupid uppies-box, all awaiting when they came across the game changing information that Leon was about to present to them.

...Game changing enough to prove he didn't do a fucking thing, anyway. Not like it proved who was responsible for the killing game or who actually did it, even if Makoto was the safe bet on who the killer was why was he not being voted for again?

Well, that's a plan, at least. Push suspicion away, shift the vote over to Makoto, or Hifumi even, easy enough. God damn, things were going wonderfully.

"Let's hope for your sake this excuse of yours is a good one." Oh fuck you. Leon looked over his shoulder, a purple vegetable giving him her ever famous death stare, or... "famous" since nobody knew who this girl was or whatever, Makoto said she wasn't on that Ultimate Forum or some shit, like... a thousand years ago, basically.

"Trust me, iT'S a good one!" Voice crack, yes. Thank you, Leon, that was a very helpful time to cuck yourself. Not as if you weren't already dealing with people who probably were dumb enough to not believe your totally viable and real excuses.

"We'll see." Oh, yes we will. Or, you will. You will see. See the proof. Or the lack thereof, or whatever. Oh, who fuckin' cares? Stop talking to the stupid vegetable!

Eggplants and everything else were probably ruined for him after today, god damn you Kyoko. Still, a worthy sacrifice if it meant he could fucking live. God, vegetables seemed nauseating right now. Of course, vegetables were irrelevant since he wasn't going to go eat, but it's the principle of the damn thing, and also the fact that he was probably going to celebrate surviving with food. Aaaand he's fucking around, thinking about food, completely ignoring his problems, which is actually exactly what got his so far! That's good, totally!

...Oh, just fuck off, for real, finally. This is not helping. It's stressful and all sorts of other bullshit, pay-a-goddamn-ttention you mother of fuck Leon goddamn Kuwata. You gave birth to this problem, now lie five feet away from it because you aren't a degenerate. Leave that shit to like... degenerates. That. That's kind of what they're there for.

Back to the problem of his brain not working at all was the best way to start out his explanation of his innocence, because no real reason other than fuck him. Everything was going fantastic, but it was also going actually good and he was fucking it all up as per goddamn usual today! He's already stopped to think about unfuckening his mind like three times today, this shouldn't be going onto four, or even three and a damn half.

Leon had no idea what else he could even do to prepare himself. Like, actually prepare himself. Laughing it off with his perfect goddamn evidence (Which was still perfect, got him off the hook) wasn't enough to save him, probably. That. That was a contradictory statement. Goddammit Leon.

And there he was, having a goddamn internal knife fight with himself again because he couldn't stay focused for more than thirty seconds. When was this going to end? When?

Now. Now it ends. Are. Are you up there?

Sweeping aside whatever motherfucker was listening to his prayers, Leon took a few more steps. Just a few more, start small. He basically won, maybe, if he wanted to make up his mind on how fucked he was and then decide on that. He didn't have anything to worry about, he could walk as slow as he wanted and his destination of "not fucking here" would be where he be and then there he be and not here he be.

"Alright, then, you had the proof? Show us the proof. There is no penalty for taking too long, so go on ahead. You will be exec-"

Leon broke into a power walk, focusing everything into running away from the terrible joke Monokuma was making (again) and landing in the safety and comfort of his evidence. Without evidence, everything he'd said would be useless bullshit, and he wouldn't be safe. Duh.

The still distressed Leon Kuwata turned around, as the rest of his fellow participants took their place behind him. The same mixed stares from before he got in the damned elevator followed him here. Nowhere to escape from the scorn and the daze except through his own door.

Well... His own temporary door. He didn't fucking live here. Never would.

"...Are you gonna open it or what?"

Y-Yes, yes, shut the fuck up, Hagakure!

Leon opened the door, such a simple task draining all of his energy. Quite fucking convenient, considering he still needed to walk across the entire damn room and open up a drawer and THEN pull his evidence out of it. How did anyone get out of bed in the fucking morning to exercise when they had to do this six hundred times a day was beyond the comprehension of the pin-headed son of an ice-cream maker who couldn't even manage like seven meters of walking.

And one, and two, and three, and four, and suddenly he was there there was some disproportion between his counting and steps. That was all well and good and HE WAS NOT FOCUSING A FUCKING GAIN

"I suggest somebody else should investigate his toolkit, in case he's tampering with the evidence somehow."

Leon didn't hear who the hell said that, but he took a wild fucking guess at what would happen next, Makoto was forced to the front of the group and he opened up the drawer.

Exactly as he called, those events transpired, Makoto stepping up through the dumbasses and murmurs to see the evidence, the proof Leon was not a criminal. Probably because he called them as they were happening and not before., but he called it all the same. "You see? You see?! Damn thing isn't opened, I didn't fucking do it!" If only he could put that towards at least disillusioning himself instead, things would be coming up Kuwata.

"...He's right. I don't see anything funny with it."

A still-in-need-of-sanity-calmness-and-a-damn-foot-massage Leon looked at the rest of the faces in the room as Makoto overturned the toolkit a few more times. More confusion, more puzzled faces, and loveliest of all, a pretty purple vegetable.

A pretty purple vegetable letting her cool fade away again in the face of being wrong.

Kyoko quickly resumed her neutral expression, but Leon caught a glimpse of exactly what he wanted. Defeat. Not for him hell FUCKING no, for the assholes attacking him without proof. Smug crayon-chewing bitches who turned on him as soon as some fine print that spelled out his name was on the wall. Anybody could tell that was faked, anybody! Just as everybody could tell there wasn't a single thing wrong with his testimony.

He couldn't have gotten into the bathroom without a toolkit. How the hell could he have murdered Sayaka?

...He should probably be asking these things out loud. Great. Fucking up even now! Good thing his evidence was so good or else this would actually be bad.

"I think that's enough investigating for you, you're already over time! If you keep at it any longer I'll execute Leon for interrupting the game!" Wait no what the FUCK MONOKUMA YOU ALLOWED THIS YOU UNKUMABLE ASSLICKING SWINE "Now, put that away and let's get back to the debate room! I even remodeled it for you kiddos, but all you want to do is leave it behind. Didn't you ever learn that you opened this can of worms, don't look it in the mouth?"

Leon shoved a vegetable aside, squeezing between Hina and Creatively Lackluster and rushing back to the elevator. Like hell he was waiting around to get stabbed, and like hell he was... there was nothing else to do, really, it was stabbed or not stabbed. Not stabbed MIGHT be the better option here, who knows for sure.

In what seemed like a second he was back at the elevator. Good, hopefully this stupid metal box protects him from the Gáe Bolg or whatever his spears were called, you know, those things that almost hit him, and Junko... and Makoto. Sound familiar? Naw, that never happened, obviously, considering there's no way Monokuma would miss. That was the very explainable reason as to why he was sitting in the corner of this metal piece of fine ass unease, one of the many layers in the Death Game Sandwich, order for 15.

Everyone else eventually came back to the elevator, and their descent began again. It wasn't anything special, but it was just as stressful knowing what they were walking into as it was not. Or... maybe not. Leon couldn't read fuckin' minds, the 6 foot idiot was the occult guy with a crystal ball.

Leon let out a breath and walked back to his stand, his elevator trip done, and his trial almost over.

Hopefully.

"So... Leon didn't open the door with his toolkit. I don't think there's any way for him to have gotten somebody ELSE'S toolkit, either. If he did do it, he would have to have opened the door in another way." Which did not happen. Not at all.

Makoto's statement went without reply as the rest of the class thought of an answer, ain't hard to think of "Somebody else did it", jeez, guys, come on. You had a thousand ideas when you were accusing him before, but now? Nothing!

"The door-handle was basically broken off, somebody coulda just hit it off, maybe?" Mondo sounded unsure of himself, and he was damn right to be, fuggen stupid suggestion, which was not at all what happened in any possible hypothetical let alone the actual murder case at hand. At least it wasn't anything Credential Burgerberg said so far.

"I really don't think even Leon could've done that, let alone anybody else..." Trust the sports girl, she's got it going on! Not that way, well, ALSO that way. Fuck, whatever, she's thinking! "I mean, that's a door handle, it's metal and screwed in place."

"We can't rule out the possibility that it was knocked off, not without evidence, but it seems unlikely." As always, the vegetable spoke flatly, just like her attitude towards everything, screwing with whoever and not caring for the emotions of others.

...Hold on there, detective. Leon considered if he was being too hasty... probably yes, but it was still all true. And to think he though she wasn't a slimy weasel or some other motherfucker.

Leon closed his eyes for a moment, god dammit get it together you dumb fuck, trying to cool off. This always happened with fuckin' anything, and he wasn't even in danger anymore, so while slightly less of a pain in the balls, it wasn't even excusable now. Come on, he's been asking all day. All fucken day. Just. FOCUS.

Leon opened his eyes again, a new attempt to tune back in to the discussion at hand made. And worthless, because he had no idea what anybody was talking about now. Junko was muttering about something, and most everyone else looked frustrated. Great, nobody speaking up, all the good that break did him. Might as well have shoved an infinite number of dicks in his ass while trying to cut out of this place himself with a chainsaw made from Chihiro's bones.

"Is there really nothing else to discuss?" Leon focused in on the speaker, today was the day where he finally broke and was actually giving Kiyotaka any attention. Never seen his sweat so badly, a roadblock in the discussion or some shit. Was that good for him or bad? Probably good. Hopefully good. Better be good. God was listening to him today, for whatever reason.

"We could very well have missed something. If we can't find or think of anything else to discuss, we should go over what we already talked about and see if we can find anything else. There is still room for doubt in every theory we have." Kyoko's tone was still flat, but Leon couldn't help but imagine that was a jab at him, because it totally was.

"D-Do we even have enough time for that?" Chihiro let out, same concerned tone as ever. Never change, 3.14, never change. "I-If Monokuma gets bored... don't we all-"

"I can't think of anything more entertaining than a bunch of teenagers screaming back and forth at one another in a panic, not to the same person who would devise this game for the sake of 'despair'," Togami, in the head of a psychopath, probably also a psychopath. As unlikely as it was, Leon would be almost happy to see him gone, vote for rich glasses everybody! "Especially so considering the stakes for this games' loser."

"So... I guess to recap... Sayaka was killed in the bathroom very early morning with a kitchen knife, there was a scuffle with the killer that ultimately led to Sayaka running into the bathroom. At this point, the door handle was broken and Sayaka was stabbed in the stomach." Makoto's voice tensed a bit recounting all of the facts, understandable, also annoying and dangerous as hell especially when you're under suspicion-! "Among other notable facts is another weapon in the case, the sword in my room, the location of the murder being my room, the door in my room not opening up, the fact that the killer may have thought it was Sayaka's room, and-"

"-The trash room's messy and energy-wasting state!" And Hifumi finishes off, good for him, only race he'd ever be winning. "Oh, yes... the note Ms. Kirigiri found, that's important too."

"...Well, should we investigate any of that further?" The posed question stuck in everyones' minds, probably anyway, and Leon wondered if he should say anything.

No, that'd dig his hole deeper, not to mention he actually couldn't think of a single thing. Seriously, the fuck else was there to talk about? Not a damn thing. Lucky him, then... Unless people voted for him anyway, in which case he would most likely screw because, again, there was nothing to talk about. A stalemate if there ever was one, perfect for nobody on the field to make a move or to back down. Just perfect.

Leon kept quiet, he could think of a thousand reasons to speak up but no words to say, no different from the rest of today with how good a job he'd done so fucking far. He got himself here, anyway, it was out of his hands now.

Wait that was fricken awful his fate could be sealed SHI-

"If none of you are going to scream at one another for my entertainment, I think we're coming to an end. Vote time? Vote time!" Well that was both good and bad, probably more bad, very very VERY BAD "Any objects? You each have thirty seconds to explain otherwise I'm executing everyone, so... uh... hold your tongue?"

"Wait, WHAT?! H-Hold on we aren't done-"

"AIIIIIEEEEE!!!!"

"What the shit??? We aren't even fucking done yet!"

"And your clocks are ticking, shut up or waste your precious seconds approaching your demise if you can't think of anything!"

"Think about EVERYTHING we discussed, and consider if your vote goes to a candidate who's case against them explains every oddity in the case." A vegetable got her final words in as Monokuma prepared to let his precious students vote, and Leon's mind went back to, as expected, jumping all over the damn place.

The screen on Leon's pedestal flickered, swapping to a set of faces, all neatly lined up, weird order, but it wasn't out of place with all of the other shit this school served him with creepy hallways and stupid stuffed animals. Still, coulda just done it in rows of five instead of six and made this not look like shit at least.

Himself, Makoto, Chihiro, the same portrait of a snake, Toko, that damn vegetable, Mondo, Junko, Hagakure, Hina, Togami, Hifumi, Kiyotaka, whatsherface, and Celestia Ludenberg all in a goddamn row, or three, convenient everybody he hated was at the end, 'cept Kyoko. Random woman(?) could move up and the vegetable could go down, maybe being at the bottom of the fucking pile would warm up her everything.

And now he was at a fork in the road... who the hell to vote for?

Hifumi and Makoto were his two best bets, obviously, but there was no fucking way to know which one was gonna get more votes. Was it going to be the trial leader and guy who's room the murder took place in, Makoto Naegi, or was it the guy who was only involved because he outed himself twice, Hifumi whatever his last name was!

Alright, think, dumbass, think. Think! Hifumi was the only person able to get into the trash room, and there was a bunch of shit in there, it HAD to be him... but how would he have gotten into Sayaka's room? Wait, the note, THE NOTE! She invited somebody in, there was the note, she could've let him in... but the murder was in Makoto's room, how the fuck did she even get in there? Wait, Makoto said they swapped rooms, and Sayaka tried to frame Makoto for a murder that blew up in her face! But... Makoto... Makoto could've killed Sayaka and framed her, too! No, wait, he couldn't have gotten into the trash, room had to be Hifumi, no other fuckin' solution. Hifumi it was... but... b-but Makoto... Makoto said he and Hifumi investigated the trash room, a completely unrelated location that only Hifumi could even access... Makoto could've guided him there to discover fake evidence! No, wait... fuck, forget the trash room. There was the broken door only Makoto knew how to operate, and the handle came out like it was in Yabasum- enough about hot bongo players, so Makoto broke it in another game of 6D chess to try and frame somebody else or more likely it was anybody except him like Yiffumi over there who was the motherfucking killer at this rate, unless Leon decided to factor in shit like how Hifumi could've just as easily led Makoto to the trash room as Makoto could have Hifumi, which makes it look definitely like Hifumi just wanted to investigate since if he took Makoto there then he'd just be framing himself. Was that everything? Course fucking not, there was also the shit framing HIM that he pushed to the deepest, darkest, damned crevices of his thinking meat that was probably set up by Hifumi as most of it was in the trash room, which could explain why Hifumi could have done it yet opened up the trash room!

"Come on, we don't have all day! Anybody who doesn't vote in 60 seconds will be executed as a pre-show to whatever comes next!"

AND MAKOTO WAS WHO EVEN SHOWED ANY OF IT-! Hifumi didn't do a damn thing to talk about it. Makoto in general had been stringing the whole trial along with vegetable, really. Togami and Seresutia Rūdenberuku at least talked a bit and Junko backed up the Ultimate Fucking Ninja's story but the other like nine dumbasses himself included didn't add a damn thing, almost like Makoto had something he actually NEEDED to prove. A killer, a killer that proved his own innocence for the crime everybody pinned on him.

Leon selected the first square on his screen, Makoto Naegi. At this point, there were two things on his mind that he wasn't beating down with a four by four, one was that he was fucked, and one was that he just selected Makoto to die.

And if Makoto died, wasn't his fault. He didn't make this fucking game. He didn't take a knife from the kitchen. He didn't do a single goddamn thing. Mistakes were made, mistakes that cost lives. And they weren't his. It wasn't his goddamn job to look out for people who'd throw him to the fucking dogs at the first given opportunity.

He was concerned, sure, but not for them. And that was fine. What worried him was dying without getting revenge on that Kazuichi for that walking contest. Also surviving, which was a very high priority and probably was what was causing him anxiousness, among the billion other things making him struggle to not start yelling at himself for all to hear.

Suddenly, his screen changed. Bright lights, eerie visuals, oh yeah, here he fucking was with the results. The results that would send him to his fucking death. He started preparing what exactly to say and do, probably kick Celes right in the teeth as he's burned alive, cursing the vegetables for not being crisp and good as that happened. Something like fucking that because he was dead.

"Looks like one of you didn't vote! A shame! Oh well, it doesn't matter because they also happened to be our winner, and more importantly, our blackened!"

wait what

Leon looked at his screen, and results were displayed. Four votes for himself, four votes for the dumbfuck, and five votes for the killer.

Who was Makoto Naegi.

"Wh-What!?! NO!!!"

No. No.

"What the hell... What th-the hell?!"

No no no. That. That wasn't right.

"I-I didn't do it! Th-This... This... This is all wrong! S-Somethings' not right! I-I swear!!!"

That wasn't right at all. Leon's absolutely terrible pretend focus and denial wasn't needed anymore, he remembered it all clear as a bright fucking day. He went into Makoto's room. He was attacked. He survived, and his attacker didn't.

"J-Just... L-Let me prove it! Y-You... I-I... It..."

He wasn't the victim in this case, apparently. And it wasn't Sayaka either.

"It... It was somebody else! N-Not me, I-I... I-I... This... Y-You..."

If Makoto was the killer, then what did that make Leon?

"Th-This is crap! I-I don't accept th-this!"

...A spotless student. A spotless student who probably wasn't getting out of here any time soon.

"This is b-bullshit! I-I refuse!!! No!"

A spotless student who was not in any way, shape, or form the killer.

"I didn't kill S-Sayaka! I-I-I-!"

A spotless student with no crime whatsofuckingever, a spotless student with no fears or worries, so long as everyone stayed in line.

"IT WASN'T ME!!!"

A spotless fucking student with no hope of finding out where the hell Kanon was.

"It... It... C-Come... Come on... It..."

A spotless fucking stupid student with no chance of putting this damn death game behind him.

"K-K... Kyoko?"

Leon looked across the trial room where Makoto's pedestal was. There were so many emotions going on in the lucky student's head, seeping out through his shaking, his stuttering, and his eyes.

It was like looking in a goddamn mirror to when he almost died.

The others were talking, YELLING, at Makoto but Leon didn't catch what they were all saying. Probably things along the lines of "How could you do this!?!" and shit like that, accusing him, beating him down. Just like they did to him, betraying one another when it was convenient. He made the right fucking call.

The right call doing the same thing to Makoto.

E-Everyone else was fucking doing it. It... It wasn't weird, it w-wasn't wrong. He was just looking out for himself, and he was smart to do that.

He won the coin toss between him and Makoto. He won. He survived. And he wasn't leaving here.

Makoto was, but he'd never get to see a damn thing again.

"Alright, I think you all have had enough time to say your goodbyes..."

"WH-WHAT? N-NO!!!"

Leon looked over to Monokuma, then back to Makoto's face. There were emotions etched onto it, the same emotions Leon threw to the wall, hoping they'd shatter while he ran like hell after he left Makoto's room. If he was ever in there, but apparently, he never was. Only Makoto himself.

"...As we prepare for our Ultimate Punishment of an Ultimately Unlucky Student, Makoto Naegi. The excitement, the shivering, the bloodshed, and most importantly, the distrust between you all was absolutely beautiful. It all combines into inconsolable melancholy... Or for you kiddos without dictionaries, Despair."

Monokuma let out a chuckle, as whatever in the fuck was going to happen next... Happened.

Leon had been more confused than anything so far, 'course, the shock, the fear, the anger, and the disgust were all about to hit as what happened next...  
~-~-~-~  
Monokuma sat in his chair, spinning around a giant hammer that hit a button. On his screen, Makoto Naegi could make out the words spelling out his fate.

Makoto's mind raced all over the place, from "What the hell is happening?!" to "I-I didn't do it!" to true fear. There was always one thing he didn't have to worry about. His family was safe and fine until that CD, nobody would kill each other, he and Sayaka would be able to stop it, nobody else would have to die if he found the killer.

There was one thing he had to worry about now. Everything.

Where was his family? What was his punishment? What would happen to everyone else? What was this game, would this hurt, how badly would it hurt, how long would it go on?

Makoto almost fell over. He couldn't take it. He couldn't take any more. He stumbled around, his mind overloaded with questions he couldn't answer and anxieties he couldn't stamp out. None of his thoughts could get through because they were all crashing into another panicking part of his head and he could barely even think about the truths in front of him like "Makoto Naegi has been found guilty, time for the punishment!"

Makoto's neck became cold, and it took him a moment to realize why, but by then, he was already flying back. It felt like he was falling in some weird dream... But the cold expression Kyoko was given him as he was dragged off was too real.

Back, back, back... Back to where?

...To a cage.

Makoto slammed into the back of the steel trap he was now in, the pains he already head struggling to think or stand joined by a new element, a sharp, stinging element shaking all throughout his body. But this wasn't it. It couldn't compare to what was going to happen next.

Up, and up, and up. This wasn't a cage, it was an elevator. An elevator Makoto was trapped in. What now, what now, what now!?! Lions, tigers, fashionistas? Makoto couldn't begin to imagine what was ahead of him, he was having enough trouble as is trying to breathe through the fear, the trauma, and the tears.

His metal prison came to a halt after an ascension that lasted 'till the eggs came out of the attic, and all of his fellow students could see the cage overhead. Of course, one man's treasure was no more than a can of worms to the rest, and Makoto didn't even cross their minds when the cage came down, smashing against the floor.

Then back up.

Then down.

Up and down and up and down and up.

And the cage was now flat.  
~-~-~-~  
...etched its' way into his mind.

His struggles were pointless, he was stuck here, and he'd almost certainly end up like that. Fuck. Well, at least he didn't kill Sayaka Maizono.

...He didn't kill JUST Sayaka Maizono.


	5. Judgement, Faith, Riddle, Deception, Defense, Betrayal, Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm late by a day (technically two) again woohoo. So... this chapter started out as a mini intermission and ended up the longest chapter in the story by like 6000 plus words? I'm probably actually going to skip next month, this took a lot out of me, even though I have a bajillion ideas for the next chapter and kind of want to jump right back into it. I should probably update this story more often, lord knows I could actually write more often if I could focus better. I wrote like, half of this chapter in the past three days, and I had to cut a bunch of things because I realized it would be too long and unreasonable to write, I didn't intend for this chapter to go on for so long, but I hope this (basically) intermission chapter is entertaining, it was certainly my favorite chapter thus far. I'm not entirely sold on it but it was solid.
> 
> This chapter drew some inspiration from "Your Turn To Die, a Death Game by Majority", as well as... actual Danganronpa 1. I've recently seen the entirety of Danganronpa 1 again, just for fun, and it's reminded me of all sorts of shit I forgot among other things. At one point, a few Ultimates with no official titles are referenced, these are taken from "Danganronpa 3.5: Students of Despair Council" by Valkyri (kisikil), a killing game starring the student council! Remember, those guys, Soshun, and all of those other people who died immediately. Anyway, read it, it's good, much better killing game than my story right here.

"I'm sorry that execution wasn't... Erm... As fun as I would've liked, but it was on a short notice... I didn't actually HAVE all of my executions ready yet. It didn't even have a title! Still, I hope you liked the up close view of that show. It was quite kind of Mr. Naegi to donate his body to the cause."

Monokuma pawsed, looking around the room with his... Paw to his face. "Oh, yes. He didn't donate his body, why would he? You donated him to the showing we just saw. I thank you ever so graciously for your contribution, and I hope you're VERY happy with yourselves."

Leon... Leon didn't know what he felt. He was... He was fucking terrified, for one. That could've been him. It would've been him if he hadn't come up with his damn perfect evidence.

...Some part of him wondered if he won. If this was actually his escape, and Monokuma was just making a show of all of this. That... That had to be it. There... There was no other explanation. Junko woulda died if she was voted for even if she was innocent... Same for Makoto. Was this it? Was he going to leave this behind?

Fuck no. Hell fucking no. He could tell that wasn't the answer just looking at what remained of that damn metal box. Everything below the top was absolutely wrecked, smashed against the floor with some Naegi jam in the center.

Aaaand now Monokuma was raising up the remaining top of the cage, slow as possible, for everyone to get a fucking look. To remind Leon there was no escape. There was no hope of leaving and no hope of putting this hell behind him.

"Get a good look if you want, if you have any cameras, take a picture even!" Monokuma's shrill voice was now coming out of the speakers, perfect, bear moaning from every direction. "Once you've taken it all in, you can go back to the elevator, I'm sure you're all eager to get back to your school lives WITHOUT those bloodythirsty delinquents!"

Something said scream out. Another part said look away. See if he somehow survived, maybe. Wake up from this hell. Speak the truth.

...Th-The truth that Makoto killed Sayaka, and he died for it. As the rules of the game said. It... It was just. Leon had no part in it, he was the failed scapegoat in a murder and now he was stuck for whatever else this game decided to screw him with.

Was this the worst outcome? God no, but it still fucking sucked absolute Leon didn't even know what. Just a pile of gross-booger lookin' meat and some leaking sticky liquid all over the damn floor. Leon couldn't even make out the bones of the now dead Makoto.

Sayaka... Sayaka's death was different. She was trying to kill.

But it was the people still standing that did.

Fuck, fucking just... fuck! Leon did NOT need a goddamn morality crisis right now or ever for that matter. He was alive, his only job was to stay alive! He looked after himself, and Kanon, and screwing around instead of doing homework but getting by anyway on baseball practice he doesn't even attend. He had no other responsibilities and no other fucking jobs to think about other people, what he SHOULD be worrying about was...

Leon didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, not looking at it, probably... but... he couldn't look away. He was taking in every detail of a sight he would never fucking forget, the sight and the smell and the sound of Toko cowering in fear while Chihiro was gagging and the groans and mutters and screams from everybody surrounding the corpse and the feeling of selecting Makoto to die.

Putting this behind him wouldn't be something he could do. Not now. Not anymore. Not with... not with this being what was in the back of his mind. But... He could escape. He HAD to be able to escape. This was his ticket out. He would be perfectly fucking okay if he just got through this and it wouldn't matter to him any.

...First, he had to get this to the back of his mind, and as such, out of the front of his mind. Leon finally tore himself away from what was left of Makoto, taking in everything else that he was presented with at this brutality hour.

Swearing and disturbed faces and everything he already saw... more specifics, Leon, please. Chihiro's gagging turned into sickness, and she wasn't the only one who had to turn completely away from the... fucking awful sight, there was no better way to say it. Right next to the confused-as-fuck baseball player was Toko, curled up on the ground and shivering, and... looks like dumbass just realized this wasn't a joke game. Fuckin' sounds like it too, Hagakure can scream.

"T... Th... Th-That w-w-was real! That w-was REAL! M-MAKOTO'S DEAD! H-HE'S FUCKING DEAD! OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!" Another headache inducing noise that Leon needed, with Makoto's last words and the crushing sound of the flimsy metal sheets over and over and over right in front of his head on bone and flesh and the middle of the damn floor.

"You're just realizing that now?" Leon had opened his mouth to yell that out, but Junko beat him to the punch, which... Good. Literally fucking fantastic. He wasn't actually in the mood to say anything, still trying to re-gather his non-existent composure and all that! "The first time Makoto was at death's doorstep or when we found Sayaka's corpse in the bathroom wasn't enough to convince you?!"

"I-I THOUGHT IT W-WAS ALL FOR SH-SHOW! D-DON'T TELL ME YOU DIDN'T TH-TH-THINK THE SAME!!!" Hagakure's screaming continued, and Leon tried his best to drown it out, but that man's voice was as captivating as evidence clearing his name and as infuriating as not being the winner of the game and being able to put this behind him. So much for faith, Leon, wanna bet you'll change your mind in the next thirty fucking seconds?

Leon faced away from the center of the room as Junko prepared her verbal bashing for Mr. Psychic. "Of course not, who would even waste time faking something like this? We've been here for days, not to mention the amount of time it must've taken to set up all of the executions andtraps and Monokumas and somehow turning Hope's Peak into a prison and... and... so many other things!"

Before Hagakure could get out another word, Kiyotaka started screeching instead. Replace one evil with another, wahoo, maybe Makoto had earplugs on him that he wasn't using anymore.

"Exactly, Hiro, the rules were very clear about the seriousness of this game, not to mention all of the detail put into setting this whole thing up. I can't believe you'd think this a jest! This is a very serious matter!"

"H-Hey, I'M not the one always laughing about everything all like 'Haha, welcome to breakfast, Sayaka!' or 'Rise and shine, Makoto, get ready to greet another day with 200% effort!' Can you blame me for thinking everything was fine when you were doing that all of the time!?!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut the fuck up!" Leon turned back around, eyes shut out of disbelief and mouth ready to start running off again so everyone suspects him of another murder. "People are dead, two of us are dying from that fact, four of you motherfuckers just tried to kill me and on Viridi's damn green coathanger BOTH OF YOU HAVE THE LOUDEST IMAGINABLE INSIDE VOICES AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO GET A MIGRAINE LISTENING TO YOU."

"...I dunno about everyone else, but you sound a bit louder than I do to me..." Leon didn't reply, instead looking over to the metal probably death box that everyone came to the trial in.

"And on the subject of what Leon brought up, why were you not convinced of the reality of the situation when Sayaka died?" It could very much kill him. It would be so easy for him to die in this very moment just by entering a fucking elevator.

"I thought she was just acting! I've been to funerals and stuff, dude, not the first dead person I've seen, didn't think she was ACTUALLY dead! She was like... TOO dead to be dead!"

The high chances of Monokuma making him as flat as anybody else compared to Hina were well worth taking if it meant he could dumb and dumber didn't exist for five god damn minutes.

Leon looked back at the rest of the room again, three or four people he wasn't in the mood to beat to death at this moment for some stupid reason or another. He wondered if anybody else was gonna help Toko... probably not.

"AAARGH! L-L-LET GO OF M-MEEEEEEE!!!!"

And the amount of people he wanted to see turned into human chili increased by one! Soon he'll actively look forwards to when more threats, deaths, and Het's come to fuck everyone in the pussy!

"Alright, yeah, yell at the pissed of guy who's trying to help you walk over to the elevator! Sure! My offer of baseballs as fast as vehicles still stands, and I'm giving away for free to anybody who gives me their middle finger up my ass!"

"I-I don't n-n-need h-help walking to th-the damn elevator, wh-who do you th-think I-I am!?!" Yes, Leon, pick today of all days to show any basic human compassion, after a long internal tangent about your lack of responsibilities to anyone else, your random positive-ass impulses are smarter than something you spent five hours debating! Woo-fuckin-hoo!

"Alright then," And to think he almost walked over to go carry Chihiro to the elevator instead. "Go help Chihiro get to the elevator 'cause she has it so much worse than you do, it sounds like!"

Whatever psychologist/god/anime catboy/angsty manuscript Toko worshiped that that suggestion somehow offended was REALLY important to her, apparently, Leon almost felt like he was the dad who ate this poor girls' puppy looking at her like this. How did he even remember that? Probably fucken stole Toko's mental capacity to do it because she looked ready to fall back to the ground. Good for her, and not for him because god dammit Leon looks like the second conversation on your latest tally, that being how you're being too little a dickwad and should fucking stop, of smacking sense into yourself was gonna be marked off!

Leon heard the beginning of whatever Hiro was about to say next, which he took as a sign to sweep Toko up and get away of dumbfuck ville, population two brain cells shared between thirteen absolutely enraging and irritating dumbasses, twelve of which he shouldn't give a damn about at all.

And yet, here he was, carrying somebody too broken to walk away from this whole fucking thing by herself. He had half a mind to just toss Toko to the floor and get in the elevator alone, but he also another half of a mind, telling him for some ungodly reason to not do that.  
~-~-~-~  
...Ma... Makoto...

She knew what she was picking... b-but...

Her vote killed Makoto.

It... I-It was fine, it was f-fine! M-Makoto was... Makoto... he...

H-He did it, and she...

Hina tried to understand what just happened. It... It was simple. It SHOULD be simple, but...

Doubt was cutting through every part of her body, sewing it back together with anxieties and fears stuffed inside where her mettle once was. She just couldn't understand it. Makoto, a murderer? A-A murderer that...

"-BOTH OF YOU HAVE THE LOUDEST IMAGINABLE INSIDE VOICES AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO GET A MIGRAINE LISTENING TO YOU."

Hina snapped back to reality as Leon's screams about who knows what echoed in her ears. She looked over at where he was, trying to focus on anything else, anything she could actually handle right now. Something that she could make sense of.

Hiro began muttering something in response, and Leon turned away from the center of the room. The center of the room... where...

Ten minutes ago, she would've voted for Leon, and Makoto would still be alive. But... but Leon didn't do it. Leon didn't kill anyone. If he did, then SHE would be dead.

It... It w-was okay. If she didn't vote for Makoto then everyone else would've died. She... she didn't kill Makoto. She didn't kill anyone, and she wouldn't. This... this stupid game... it... she...

She was stressing out over nothing. Absolutely nothing. She wasn't going to do anything. Nothing was going to happen to her or anyone else. She made the right decision picking Makoto, and...

...She could repeat that all she wanted, send the thought through her head, over and over, and eventually she'd accept it. She didn't do anything wrong, she made the right choice, and nothing bad was going to happen, as long as no one broke any rules... and...

Junko was standing above Makoto's... his "body", reminding Hina of two more things balancing in her head, both of them about near punishment. The rules alone had already almost killed people... if it weren't for Junko she might be dead, and SHE almost died herself. It was so easy to die. It was so easy for somebody to make a mistake and end up bleeding, and even easier to end up with someone else's blood all over the floor.

Before this, she didn't think of blood like that. Blood was when accidents happened and someone tripped during a race or accidentally threw a ball too hard at someone else who wasn't ready. She just threw a bandage on it or gave that nose a few tissues and continued on, she couldn't give up that easily.

Yet here she was, with this getting the better of her, and she wasn't even the one who almost got impaled. Junko faced Monokuma's spears, and she was dealing with it. She even mustered up the strength to carry someone else's burdens and lift them to the courtroom.

Hina wanted to apologize, at the very least, or thank her. She should do that. She needed to, almost, she wasn't going to overcome it any other way if she couldn't even get over the fact that she voted correctly.

Junko remained staring at the squishy remains in the center of the trial room, unmoving. Hina could still barely bare to look at it, but...

Hina walked back towards her pedestal, forcing herself to take it all in. She had to take it all in, all of the facts. That was Makoto. And Sayaka was lying in his bathroom, with a knife through her cold body. There wasn't a trace of life left in either of them. She was almost like either of them. Monokuma could've deepfried her, or impaled her like he tried with Junko, or...

...Or nothing. Hina turned away, it was completely stupid to be thinking about hypotheticals. She was alive, and everyone else was alive. Nothing... nothing bad would happen. There wouldn't be anything else going wrong. Nobody else would kill one another. They knew the consequences now, they wouldn't do something so stupid. They wouldn't turn their backs on their friends...

...Hina remembered what she first thought when Monokuma announced the escape conditions. B-But... but...

"Yo, uh... Hina."

"Y-Yeah?" Mondo's question snapped Hina back to reality again, leaving her wondering what he wanted instead. They didn't talk too much, but he wasn't a bad guy. M-Maybe... "I-I'm fine, don't worry."

"No, I mean, th-that's good, but... I was gonna ask for some help. Take a fuckin' look at Chihiro, there's no way she's getting back to the elevator like that." Hina hadn't even noticed the state Chihiro was in. If she had it bad... Chihiro was on her hands and knees, a pile of barf under her. God, she must have been terrified. That... that could've been Chihiro too. Or Sakura or Toko or Leon or any number of people. "I... I don't fuckin' know what to say or do. Can't carry her, that'd just be rude. Wonderin' if another chick would be... uh... better for that?"

Mondo started muttering swears under his breath trying to think of a better way to phrase his request, as Hina prepared to say yes. Despite her clear answer, she hesitated, for no reason she could or would want to admit. She was almost as if not just as horrified by what they just saw, and her thoughts probably drifted more than Chihiro's ever would. She was a good, sweet girl... much better than she was... th-thinking... thinking about-!

"N-No..." Chihiro let out weakly. Mondo and Hina both turned their attention back to the programmer, who was making a poor attempt to stand. "...No... I-I... I c-can walk m-myself."

"You sure? I-I mean-"

"No." Chihiro's voice was still as shaky as her figure, but her statement was as definite as it could be. She managed to stand, struggling with herself to keep her legs from quaking as she tried to take a step.

She was trying to be strong, even with what she saw. She was being much stronger than Hina was, right now...

...And she wasn't going to let herself fall behind. She couldn't. It... it was all fine. That stupid bear and nothing else would beat her down. They'd be able to find a way out somehow, but until then... she had to just pull it together. Chihiro was holding it together, Mondo was holding it together...

...Toko was yelling about something, and Leon looked confused... b-but... everyone else was doing fine. Everyone else was doing fine, and that included her.

Chihiro began a slow walk back to the elevator, Mondo following behind. Hina prepared herself to take her own steps out of the trial room... but then her thoughts went back to Junko.

Hina turned to the center of the trial room, pushing her way between two pedestals to where the Ultimate Fashionista was. Junko was now on one knee, her both her hands clenched.

"J-Junko..."

"...I'm fine." Junko stood back up, still looking at the mess on the floor. "Don't worry about me any, just get to the damn elevator before Monokuma comes back and executes you for whatever bullshit reason."

"No... I mean... if you say you're fine that's good!" Hina experienced the same awkwardness Mondo had just moments earlier, and tried to follow up more successfully. "...I just want to thank you. I could've died, y'know..."

"And I would've died if it wasn't for Leon trying to hit me." Junko's eyes darted over to Leon's figure, disappearing into the elevator, then back to the bloody sight on the floor. "...And Makoto is actually dead. We aren't out of the school yet, our stay here... Our stay has only just begun."

Hina's regained confidence began to shatter. Junko shanked her where it would hurt most, leaving her once again nothing but worried about everything that was going to happen.

...And despite that, Hina let out her response. "No... No! We're going to get out of here, all of us! I'm sure of it! Monokuma isn't going to stop us! We'll get out of here, just fine!"

"The tragedy in this building is far from over. Do you think everyone else is going to be as unkeen after what we just saw? Escape is easy, somebody will try it again."

"I-If... If that happens... I'll stop them! None of our friends are going to kill each other! I swear it!"

Hina's argument was on its last legs... she was talking to herself as much as she was Junko. B-But... nothing would go wrong. Everyone would be able to move forward. Everyone HAD to move forward... this... they couldn't let it get to them.

"Do you really think hope is going to survive in a place like this?" And yet, Hina's belief in her own words was in the floor, Junko smashed her hopes to pieces with a few sentences. "Do you think your resolve is going to last?"

"...Yes. It will. I... I'm not giving up! I'm not letting you give up either!"

Hina didn't believe what she just said, but she grabbed Junko's arm and began the march to the elevator anyway. Her... Her hope... Her faith... It... She still had it. She wasn't giving up.  
~-~-~-~  
What happened was a tragedy, truly, but it wasn't going to stop her from surviving, much less not heading to the elevator when advised. Most of the others had already begun walking forwards, and she was no different.

She had to be careful, one vote and everyone would have died. She voted incorrectly, as did over half of the class. Only five of the votes hit the mark on the head, and surely, such confusion would come in the future, if there was any such tragedy.

Of course, there was only so much any man or woman could do to stop it, especially in such conditions, a lack of trust in the air, and whatever dangers or motives lurked around the corners.

The people here... Sakura didn't know how many of them she could trust. Certainly, a few of them, but it wasn't unreasonable to assume there was a mole in the group, and someone else could attempt to kill. Anyone, almost... Makoto did, after all.

She couldn't imagine he was at fault, Hifumi was her bet. Leon's argument seemed sound to her, and between the remaining... Makoto's physical build would've prevented anything that happened in the trash room. However, her bet was wrong, and in the end... it could have cost them.

But it didn't, and the only one who paid the price was the killer... a... just death, arguably.

She talked with Makoto about his motive video, and he seemed worried, but far from distraught, even with his family on the line. Not like Leon or Yasuhiro, and certainly not Sayaka. Perhaps he masked his fears... or his testimony was true about Sayaka making an attempt on his life, and he took the opportunity.

Whatever it was, it was all in the past... they didn't have all of the answers, but Makoto was responsible, if the results were to even be believed. As it currently was, she didn't see much reason to doubt it, the whole motivation behind this killing game was unknown to her to begin with, she couldn't say whether there was any reason for the mastermind to lie. If it were for entertainment, it might be believable... after all, it was a *game*...

She should keep an eye out for Leon and Hifumi, as well as all the others, but them especially. If they were so tense to have almost been believed to try and escape, they might try again. She had to keep an eye out, another murder would be... ugly, for everyone involved.

Even if Leon had no hand in the deaths, his state was incredibly distressed, as was Hifumi's, AND those with no stake in the debate like Chihiro or Yasuhiro...

Many of the remaining participants were arguing or tearful, but a few remained silent, and Sakura herself was among them. She had yet to speak any about the murder, the execution, or what Monokuma had devised next.

She had her choice words, of course, that... that bastard making poor children kill one another for their families. Makoto had parents and a sister who wouldn't even get to see the body of the light in their life... Sayaka was the same, surely. Her own video was no different, the Ogami Clan Dojo, and the people who she fought and learned much from.

Sakura was far from the strongest person alive, even if she may even be second best. Despite her second best position, the teachings she received were incredibly valued by her, despite their lack of application here, with none of her usual training equipment, nor available sparring partners with the same level of discipline. Still, what mentalities she'd had ingrained into her head had some use.

She could not regret her choice, her vote was incorrect, but in the end, the killer was chosen. Makoto had people he needed to look out for, but his death was inevitable for the sake of the others to survive. Tears were shed now, but were it not for tears, there would be no resolve.

Of course, her thinking wasn't true of everyone. Byakuya, Celeste, Kyoko, Junko, maybe even Leon... she had her fair share of people to keep an eye out for, and Makoto just re-enforced that anyone could break. Whatever mastermind was behind this game, they were clever... they knew exactly how to get their game moving, making everyone see shadows in everyone else. Lay out easy victims and those prepared to survive, conveniently will all different, complex backgrounds with knowledge and talents that sets them all apart, giving them all advantages in the struggle to survive. Those responsible must have picked Ultimates for this game for a reason...

...That thought left Sakura with something else on her mind. What reason was there to even hold this game? Some kind of sick entertainment? Could it be an experiment of some kind by Hope's Peak, or another party, even?

She would have the time to think about these things later, everyone had arrived in the elevator now, the last people being Hina and Junko. The swimmer dragged the fashionista into the elevator, the door shutting as soon as Junko's feet passed the threshold of the elevator interior.

"Are you two alright?" The suspicions Sakura had on her mind were irrelevant in this moment, when something possibly trusted was presented instead.

"I'm fine, I was just having a rough time earlier..." Hina let out. She was making an attempt to smile, but her voice was almost dreary... Certainly a bit shaky. "...Junko helped me out of it."

"I dragged you to the elevator, that's all." And Junko, too... A tense in her voice not present at all previously. Any threats Monokuma made, and even his attempt at killing her... Her voice was no more than annoyed. Her expression was neutral, as if nothing had happened... Or if she was trying to mask something. Sakura knew many focused on their face rather than their voice, and Junko's voice was the weakest part of whatever facade she was showing.

Hina tried to argue, but Junko brushed her off, walking away from the other girls to the back of the elevator. The swimmer's face fell for a moment, the spreading dejection in her eyes, but she quickly bounced back, popping up her collar as the fire returned to her eyes.

It was a very familiar look, her eyes weren't angry or vengeful or hurt, they were determined. It was admirable she was trying to move forwards and keep faith, but could she keep it up? This game was designed to break its' participants, one after another, something that could knock her down would come soon enough, and Sakura doubted even she could take on whatever was soon to come.

Sakura wondered if she should speak her concerns, but she decided against it. Giving Hina more time to take it all in would be best, but even then, Sakura didn't know enough about her to say if her resolve would stay this strong going forwards, it may be best to challenge it now, when escape seemed reasonable.

...Heh, she'd accepted it already, had she? Thinking as if escape was reasonable now... thinking as if they'd face hardships now. She was being realistic, sure, but that was nothing valuable, it was just the same depression thoughts that lead to the "despair" Monokuma wanted. Had her will broken already? Was her mind truly so weak?

The answer was almost surely yes... but just as a will could be broken, it could be repaired. It could, certainly... even if her commitment remained, her will power broke now and again, she wasn't unfamiliar with rebuilding her resolve from the setbacks she may have faced.

With a *ding*, the elevator opened, and everyone piled out of it, standing around before the red doors. Before anyone could get a word out, Leon had already stormed off, almost knocking open the doors as he practically ran away from the others. He was soon followed by Toko and Junko, both following suit before the doors swung back closed. Three different pairs of footsteps, all fast, tense, and fading away down the hall.

"S-So... Now that the trial's over, what do we do now?"

As soon as Hifumi asked the question, their captor and "headmaster" appeared right before their eyes. Most of the room jumped, Hifumi letting out a squeal and Hiro nearly falling over. New tears flowed down Chihiro's already moist face, Taka was almost what you would all startled... even Kyoko's expression fell to a scowl. Sakura's fist instinctively clenched at the sight of the wretched bear, few things made her blood boil as much as the monster behind this killing game.

"What do ya do now, you ask? I thought that much would be obvious-!"

"Oh shut up! What's so obvious about what we do now???" Hina practically screamed her response. It was obvious what they'd have to do next, but Hina didn't want to accept it, it seemed. Maybe the time when her resolve was ground to dust was now.

"If you'd let me finish, maybe I woulda told you, it's rude to interrupt people when they're talking, y'know? Notice how I happened to execute the one guy who spent the past hour doing just that! Interruptions aren't good for your pure little minds, they're like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets!" Monokuma's voice was as filled with whimsy as ever, no remorse for the killings, and nothing but glee for the despair. Suffering was their equivalent of a good workout or a nice meal, or whatever it was that brought any normal person satisfaction. It was repulsing, but not surprising, for this sick bastard of a bear.

"Still, still..." Monokuma continued on, nobody daring to cut in while he was talking. "...I suppose I can still give you the little gift of a hint, you've all been good kids, casting your votes to choose who dies."

The monochrome bear dropped the happy mood his words were coated with, ending his sentence off with what was for him, a serious tone. Sakura made an attempt to open her fist, but instead, her other hand also balled up. Feeling so powerless... it was a horrible feeling, one of anger and the headmaster's favorite despair.

"But first, you all look Starved! Famished! Head over to the dining hall and have some whatever meal this is. Lunch, dinner, ランチ, whatever it is, go eat it! You guys have the luxury of eating at set times, bears have to scavenge you know! The last gym teacher I ate didn't go down well, and that's all the food I get until another one of you kicks the bucket!"

As suddenly as he came, Monokuma left, and with his leave came back the chatter he sucked from the room.

"We should do as he says, who knows what he has in store for us next." Kyoko spoke, pausing all of the complaints and fears coming from the others in the room.

"Should we really just do as the bear asks?" Byakuya prepared his rebuttal, his almost chilling voice no doubt preparing to speak against co-operation. "I have no doubt defying him directly would be foolish, but trusting his every word similarly so, not to mention exposing yourself and your habits to your fellow participants is brainless, and have I not already brought up poison?"

He wasn't wrong, exposing yourself was careless... you never knew who may turn. Makoto fell victim to this, and if this game continued, the possibility forever existed.

"Oh, forgot to mention!" Once more without warning, Monokuma appeared, appearing right behind the affluent progeny, who was unfazed. "If you kill more than two people, then you die immediately, so you better concentrate your deadly poisons! That's a fun little rule I completely and totally forgot to say at all and is kind of important if you kids aren't even going to follow my directions. If you want your hint, then you better get your butts over to the dining hall!"

Without further questioning and only a moment of silence, Byakuya left the room, and Monokuma made another disappearance.

"I think that settles any doubts we may have, so let us head to the dining hall! Hurry up!" Taka followed Byakuya, stepping out of the room, followed by Kyoko.

"Let us be off, there is no point to loitering around here, is there?" Celeste gave those remaining a smile, making her own way out of the room, with Hiro shortly after, muttering about something.

"She's right, we should head to the dining hall now." Sakura pushed open the doors herself, and began the seemingly long walk to the dining hall, accompanied by the thoughts of anger the bear brought out of her. Getting so riled up over... anything, was indeed foolish now, as was defying the bear... they were all in a corner, as she'd realized again and again. This was a perfect "game", a perfect environment to foster exactly what the mastermind wanted. Every time Sakura considered any part of the game, she couldn't find anything but the game's "perfection".

It was too perfect, even. Was it even possible for there to be no hope, no flaw in the mastermind's plan, no blind spots or possibilities they didn't consider for, a stalemate, possibly?

The long walk to the dining hall ended all too soon, and Sakura's mind shifted from the questions she had to the commotion in the next room as soon as she'd entered, with Hiro standing my the entrance.

"Apparently Leon, Junko, and Toko are fighting in the kitchen or something. Man, what the hell are they doing in there?" The fortune teller wondered, with Sakura herself setting out the answer that question, walking closer to the similarly-puzzled group standing next to the kitchen.

Byakuya, Kyoko, Taka, and Celeste were all standing outside of the kitchen, having a debate about the argument in the kitchen.

"If we cannot cease their incessant bickering or at least get them to move from the kitchen, the next phase of this killing game will never begin, and we'll have to hear more of Monokuma's complaints." As accepting of the situation as ever, Byakuya let out his peace, followed by Taka.

"It is not the time nor the place for such arguments! I have half a mind to ask Monokuma to get them to stop!!!" The moment Taka's assertion ended, Monokuma re-appeared, once again without warning.

"Back and forth and back and forth, dontchu guys know how tiring it is for me to keep up with you and those nasty delinquents in the kitchen when you're all separated! And I need to keep explaining things to you bastards twice, come on!!!!!" The bear let out a growl, bearing one of his claws. "Anyway, so long as you're all here and eating, I don't care about any of it! Don't eat, even, it'd be funny to see you driven to such desperation to get out that you give it all up to me! Haven't had a tasty Kirigiri leg in awhile!"

"I don't think any of us ever asked for you to keep going back and forth, except for just now." Kyoko didn't let that comment slip by, while still remaining as calm as ever. Sakura didn't know much of anything about her, but she didn't sense any malice from her, only making her that much more interesting. "You've only yourself to blame for that, am I wrong?"

Monokuma turned away in sadness, before disappearing just as he had come and went all day. With him gone, Sakura took a moment to actually pay attention to the fight in the kitchen.

"M-Make up y-y-your mind, at l-least, are y-you going to b-be a j-jerk or not?"

"I'm seriously trying to not be an asshole but you're making it pretty damn hard!"

"Can you two just shut up for five minutes and take your plates, Monokuma told us to eat, so eat unless you want to be stabbed and ready as HIS next meal!!!"

Leon was still fuming, but Toko fell silent. Both of them grabbed a plate of food and walked to the exit, Sakura and the others moving aside as they and Junko left the kitchen to take seat in the dining hall. Junko walked to the close end of the long table, with Leon and Toko both sitting away from where the rest of the group would end up, on opposite sides of the hall. As soon as they'd taken their seats, Taka mustered up the will to speak again, no doubt with a critique of some kind.

"For what reason were any of you arguing? You were holding the rest of us up! You heard Monokuma, and besides, it's rude to disallow others access to a public facility!"

Almost unanimously, they all let out some form of "Shut up", the moral compass taken aback by their rudeness.

"Are you all REALLY going to act so poorly! You should-!"

"I don't think it is wise to continue arguing with them." Just as he was complaining about it, Taka soon forgot about Monokuma's suggestion to eat, hopefully a little reminder put this issue to rest. "We shouldn't waste any time ourselves."

"As Sakura said, we should not waste any more time." Celeste added. "I am unsure about you, but I am quite hungry, and we already spend a good while squabbling amongst ourselves about a more important issue."

"Ah... A-Alright! Forgive me, all of you!" Taka quickly resumed form and hurried into the dining hall, as did everyone else, including those just joining. A few mostly silent minutes later, everyone was seated, and Leon was standing up to leave.

"Nuh uh uh, Kuwata, get your butt back here!" Leon halted, practically vibrating with annoyance. "I am NOT taking the time to explain everything to you all in two different groups again!"

"Can you just get to that hint you said you had, jackass?" Mondo put his feet onto the table, almost cutting into where Sakura was sitting, her meal inches away from Mondo's boot. After a glare, he quickly put his feet back down, embarrassed, or perhaps scared, either way, he caught Monokuma's attention as well as hers.

"Alright, slow down their, cowboy. The sooner I get this over with the better, but no need to be so pushy! The hint is that... a whole new world has opened up to you!"

"A... whole n-new world?" Chihiro asked. She was still drying her tears between bites, but she seemed to have recovered slightly from Makoto's execution. "What does that mean?"

"You guys are the worst at solving mysteries, you had to have Makoto do it all for you, and then you went and killed him for doing his job too well!" And with that, Chihiro was downcast again. Sakura could feel anger swelling once more, but she held it in to a greater success this time. "Anyway, what I MEAN is that, some new places have opened up! Remember all those gates and boards and stuff? Some of it's gone, have fun lookin' around!"

"...New places to explore, huh?" Monokuma disappeared, and Mondo spoke up again, back to looking pleased. "Could be an escape hatch somewhere, whatever rat bastard was doing this was plannin' on keepin' us here for however fuckin' long, they've gotta restock our shit somehow!"

"Everyone, once you are finished eating, you should begin your investigation at once! Chop chop, now, come on!!!" Taka added, as the both of them, Leon, Byakuya, Junko, and Kyoko all left the dining hall. Soon, almost everyone else, even Chihiro, had left, leaving only Sakura, Hina, and Toko.

"H-Hey... Sakura... should we try and..." Sakura gave a glance to Hina as she stumbled over her words. "Y'know... talk to Toko, maybe?"

"I suppose we should try again, but I'm unsure if anything good will come of it." Toko had made it clear she has no intention of fitting in with the rest of the group, even if she still hung around and complained when she was excluded.

Hina stood up and walked over to Toko, with a... disastrous interaction occurring. Three sentences of back and forth, and Toko began yelling and stormed off.

"Jeez... couldn't even take her plate back to the kitchen. Heck, nobody did! Urgh..."

"It's alright, Hina." Sakura did her best to offer assurance, but there was only so much she could do. New areas to explore meant new possibilities, some may have even hoped for escape, but whatever it was, it was enticing enough to be understandable. Of course, it left them with the work. "You go on ahead, I can handle this."

"Really, Sakura? A-Alright, I'll do my best to check around everywhere!!!" With that, the swimmer ran off, and Sakura took on the task of collecting thirteen pairs of dishes.

...Prior, everyone washed their own plates and utensils, but no-one else was around to do it now. Not exactly the kind of work she was used to, but it was something everyone did at some point, and the task fell to her now. Everyone else would be able to search around, and she had the time herself to make an investigation if she really needed to.

"...So, ya havin' fun over there, Ogre?"

"Not exactly, but I have few misgivings about the situation either. What about you? You were just going on about you were not in the mood to talk to us all, yet here you are."

"Well, well..." Monokuma trailed off, almost as if he didn't know what to say, but he was nothing like anyone else, he always had a specific intent in mind. "...To be honest, I've always kinda liked you, so I thought I'd give you a lil' extra hint!"

"Really?" Sakura didn't believe it, but the mastermind was surely a person, with their own likes and dislikes... perhaps they followed her prior to the killing game, or had an interest in her demeanor. The likeliest explanation she could imagine, though, was another kind of motive, or further setting up pieces exactly as they wanted them, but the mastermind was almost certainly a person themself, so anything was possible if she didn't know who that person was.

"Yep, yep! Y'see... you aren't the first person I've talked to this sort of thing about before... but this 'other person' has a lot more perks! Access to some things that'll solve the mysteries I'm sure you all have!"

"The... mysteries?" Monokuma was just handing out answers to their questions? He was definitely lying now, but still... Sakura was curious. "Go on, what do you mean?"

"You gotta promise, first!" Monokuma's voice was once again "happy", almost as if he were a child.

"Promise what?" But he certainly wasn't, he was the mastermind behind this killing game... the biggest enemy they had.

"You haven't heard about these perks before, right? I ain't lettin' anybody run around with 'em! If you tell anybody else about this hint... you saw the video, right?"

"...Yes, I did."

"Alright, well..." Monokuma paused again, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I've been handing out photos to one of your fellow classmates... not Makoto or Sayaka, somebody else... that give some clues about all sorts of things."

"I imagine you won't tell me who's been receiving them?" This hint was to make her doubt her fellow students... as she'd already done somewhat, unfortunately.

"No, of course not, but I will tell you the conditions I gave them in return! You get yours for free, other than not telling anybody, of course!" If there was anything he said that wasn't a lie, she would believe that he would tell the condition. Almost certainly safety of the captive in the motive video...

"You listening?" Sakura lent her ear once again, seeing no reason not to listen to the invite... it seemed unlikely Monokuma would attack her then and there, and even if he did, she would probably still be able to catch it. "The condition is... if I say so, they need to kill someone."  
~-~-~-~  
"...New places to explore, huh? Could be an escape hatch somewhere, whatever rat bastard was doing this was plannin' on keepin' us here for however fuckin' long, they've gotta restock our shit somehow!" Of course, there could be fuck all nothing, but Mondo wasn't going to let the chance escape him to search.

"Everyone, once you are finished eating, you should begin your investigation at once! Chop chop, now, come on!" Taka had a stick three meters in every hole of his, but he had the right idea now, new places to explore were a pretty important thing to check out. As he marched straight out of the dining hall, a few others followed suit, Mondo included.

Now... what the fuck to check first? New places could be anywhere, all sorts of shit was still boarded up, the stairwells, the bathhouse, the nurse's office...

Speak of the fuckin' devil, bathhouse is open! Mondo rushed into the bathhouse, finding himself in a changing room, no doubt for something steamy over in the next room. An excitement filled the Ultimate Biker, a nice wash sounded damn good right about now, 'specially... after...

...Motherfucker, stupid... motherfucker. Why'd he do it, why the hell'd he do it? Why'd they BOTH do it!?!?!

Mondo couldn't help but think about the trial again, Makoto and Sayaka giving in to the stupid motive... god damn selfish morons. He threw his fist into the nearest whatever, remembering when he clocked Makoto a few days ago. Musta knocked a damn screw loose, why... why the hell would he stab the girl?

Mondo forgot about his questions for a moment, his hand aching instead. Soon, though, he'd shaken it off, the dent in a locker the only reminder he had his hand hurting. Where his hand was fine, his head throbbed, as questions he couldn't answer came back.

No fuckin' way he was ever gonna win, no point in even tryin'. Nobody else woulda fucken tried it, stupid, goddamn-!

Without thinking, Mondo threw his fist into the locker again. Good idea, dumbass, good fucking idea!!!

Despite the persisting pain, all he could think to do was to break something else. It wasn't a fuckin' problem that mattered to him any, wasn't even a goddamn problem to begin with, yet here he FUCKING WAS, smashing his god DAMN hands on a stupid fucking locker because HE DIDN'T FUCKING KNOW.

Mondo looked down at his hand, it was all fuckin' bruised up now, swollen and a color body parts weren't supposed to fuckin' be. Fights on the streets happened enough for this to be a familiar sight, but it still just made him more pissed off. Five fucking minutes ago he was dealing fine, five fucking minutes ago!

He tried to draw himself away from the thought, thinking about whatever the else he could to calm down. Other than the locker he practically smashed in, the rest of the room seemed fine, as for the actual bath...

...The door opened to heaven. Almost made him forget again, forget about an idiot kid gettin' himself killed.

Mondo walked towards the back of the room, 'course the bath alone was just great and made everything all fuckin' okay, the sauna...

...The sauna just reminded him of burning. Burning in fuckin' hell.

Mondo slammed the sauna door shut, stomping back to the changing room and shutting the bathhouse door as well. God damn stupid fuckin' everything. Mondo took a few steps towards the exit, still muttering swears and cursing everything he could think of, stopping when Chihiro appeared in his view right next to the entrance.

"Y-Yo, Chihiro... You doin' alright?" Took everything he had to pretend to be calm, but Chihiro didn't need to see him acting like a fuckin' idiot, nobody did.

"I-I'm okay, Mondo..." She put on her own attempt at trying to act fine, but her voice was still shaking, and she wasn't lookin' anywhere but down. He bet there was a sad face she was struggling to keep inside, instead trying to hide it from view. The chick shouldn't have to fuckin' deal with this shit...

"G-Good, yeah..." He couldn't be anything but awkward in this situation, same as Chihiro. Goddamn chick had to keep it all in just because of him. Any biker worth his ride didn't let somebody else take on their shit, but here he was, doin' just that! This whole damn thing was messed up! "Motherfuckin' mastermind's got no business screwin' with you. Even tough shitheads shouldn't go through this, fuckin' you and Makoto and Sayaka... God damn... Fuckin'-!"

"C-Calm down, Mondo!"

"Calm down! Calm fucking down-!" Mondo suddenly fell silent, noticing the look in the cute little face now staring straight at him. Hidden by tears were eyes full of concern. Not fear, nothin' like that, first thing on Chihiro's fucken mind was concern, and the only thing on his mind was throwing a goddamn hissy fit over fucking nothing. He was a grown goddamn man bitching about his problems and threatening somebody who wanted to help. "...C-Calm down, yeah... S-Sorry."

"...Are... Are you okay now? If y-you need-!"

"N-Nah, I'm fine!" Mondo put on a smile, giving a thumbs up and closing his eyes in hopefully perceived glee. He didn't know what the hell Chihiro's face was like, hopefully a similar grin. He opened his eyes again, only to be greeted by another horrified expression, now locked onto his hand.

"M-Mondo, your hand! Wh-What happened!?!" Chihiro was still teary eyed, and still concerned. Ultimate Fuck-Up biker, goddammit-!

"I j-just got excited when the sauna opened up, alright? I love a nice bath, and... You know what's been fuckin' goin' on, right? We could use somethin' like that." Liar, liar, busted a goddamn locker to pieces, but whatever got Chihiro smiling. Chick's worried a-goddamn-nough about everyone as is. "It's fine, okay?"

"...Alright..." Chihiro replied, glancing between Mondo and the floor. Dammit, the hell else was he supposed to stay? Mondo needed some fuckin' excuse... Argh...

"I didn't really get a good look at the baths since I... Uh..." He shook his hand around, message better be clear, no idea how else to say that shit. "...A-Anyway, if you wanna check it our yourself, feel free, bet there's somethin' I missed. I gotta take care of this somehow..."

"O-Okay!" The slightly more determined Chihiro nodded her head, good, finally she ain't cryin' for somebody else. "I'll go check it out too, I-I guess... B-Be careful!"

"Yeah, yeah, you too..."

Mondo walked back to his room, something good having finally fucking happened today.

Fuckin' Chihiro, fuckin' Makoto, fuckin' Sayaka... God damn mastermind, fucking everything.

He couldn't think of any words to describe any of it, it was all just... Fuckin' confusin' and awful and he was back here without any answers to questions he had for no reason.

After opening and shutting his door, the exhausted moron took a seat at his desk. He barely accomplished anything in his investigation, he can't keep himself together, has to ask or be given help to help somebody else or even kick his own ass back into gear...

...And there was somethin' on his desk. Well, duh, shit was all there before... Except whatever the hell this was.

A photo, a goddamn photo. A goddamn photo of Chihiro... And...

Mondo damn near flipped the table looking at what was in this... This...

A picture of Chihiro, and a picture of his right hand man, the Cr-Crazy Diamond's own Takemichi Yukimaru, a damn good biker, and a good fuckin' kid.

No mistakin' either of 'em... But... 'Michi never mentioned knowin' any girls, much less any of 'em like Chihiro... G-God damn mastermind, the hell'd any of these pictures f-fuckin' mean?  
~-~-~-~  
...Nothing particularly special, but there were quite a few treasures here that would actually pose some difficulty to obtain. Of course, Hope's Peak Academy was no doubt a true power player organization in the world as a whole, considering all of those who'd been accepted. Even if certain dead men and women walked about the student body, so too did the likes of him or every true heir to the Togami name that has come prior to him. Even the other riffraff who entered the school were notable individuals, Yasuke Matsuda did incredible work, with pennies to his name Sosuke Ichino managed to even become the talk of some of the high class interested in his technique, and Seiko Kimura was nothing short of intriguing, even Byakuya had to admit her work had some value. Hope's Peak was far from perfect, but it was no doubt the top school in the world, and a very powerful organization.

Byakuya pulled out the next book... a not entirely worthless read, but he had little need for this sort of thing when any and all worthwhile Ultimate's he'd already had memorized in his head. Potential threats to the Togami name, or better yet, assets, were worth the consideration, but there were as many Ruruka Ando's as there were Soshun Murasame's, and it was a miracle Ando could even keep a boyfriend much less become an Ultimate.

"Yo, Byakuya." It was too much to hope that this pitiful insect wouldn't open his mouth, but Yasuhiro Hagakure sparsely held his tongue. "Whatcha got there?"

"As even you should be able to see, a book. More specifically, a journal about Ultimates by Tomohiko Goryoku. I would lend it to you, but I'm not sure if you even know what language it's in."

"Oh, that, I've read that one, actually..." Of all the things that have come to pass, that was by far the most surprising, other than Monokuma thinking he could control Byakuya Togami, that is. Empty talk about "spreading despair" was worthless when faced with his heel. "Isn't he the guy who's mom has like, a hundred Ultimate children?"

"Correct." Byakuya put the book away, pulling out another to check its' contents. "It's shocking to know you've actually ever opened a book, much less studied up on who may actually be a pillar in society going forwards. I would have thought you were only fluent in reading palms."

"Yeah, I know... Wait, are you making fun of me? What the hell, man?!" What did you expect, your talent is the Ultimate Fortune Teller, and were you even as competent as the unremarkables of society you wouldn't be eligible for Hope's Peak. Perhaps you would've joined an earlier class, saving the trouble of having to deal with you. "Ugh, I came in here to get away from the "high and mighty" telling me to shove it!"

"What do you mean by that?" Every once in awhile, even Hagakure had to hit a target, his prize catching Byakuya's attention enough to warrant asking.

"I was exploring one of the classrooms, lifting up desks and all that, and then Taka came and started yelling at me for doing it all wrong, or whatever. After some arguing, he told me to screw off, basically." Nothing much of worth, but Hiro's testimony showed a potential weakness of Taka's... when the time comes, it may or may not be useful if either of them are around then. "I'm serious, dude! He was all "That is the last straw, Hiro. Had I the power, I would place you in detention right now! Make yourself useful and actually investigate properly, then report back to the dining hall!" Can you believe him? It's investigating! You look at things and make guesses, how do you do that wrong?"

"Well, for one, taking the time out of your search to quarrel with Taka is as good a use of your time as painting a bright red target on your back." Byakuya put away the book he was holding now, no reason to keep searching, there would be time later. He'd gotten enough to know this is a notable library, but nothing extraordinarily special, not when compared to the archive adjacent or any information house he'd ever actually used. "You could have brought that up to him and ended the debate swiftly."

"...Man, why didn't I think of that. Makes way more sense than just storming off. Thanks, man!" Hiro seemed pleased, Byakuya couldn't care any about how he felt, but being in good spirits probably helped him some. He was certainly stupid enough to actually take the bait of killing, thinking he could actually get away with it, but so long as he were content, Monokuma would have to make the game more interesting, or better yet, intervene. Of course, that alone wasn't enough reason to pay him any mind, but Hiro's incompetence made him a viable piece on the board, something that could certainly be toyed with if need be.

"Investigate this place if you wish, you may learn a thing or two. Now, stand aside." Hiro took a step out of the doorway, giving a small wave to the Ultimate Affluent Progeny as he left the room. Byakuya didn't return it, or even scowl at the thought of doing so, something else caught his attention more.

"You very nearly were voted as the blackened, Hifumi, how do you feel about that?"

"O-Oh... well... I... I think it was stupid of everyone who voted for me to have done so! I wasn't the killer, how could I have been?"

No doubt Celeste had a plan in mind, she wasn't stupid enough to actually buy into the idea of easy escape, whatever honeyed words she was about to speak next were as fake as the accent and name she'd given everyone.

"I am surprised, I would have thought you would be angrier about it." The lolita's showing of concern, a hand to her mouth and the same tone she used every time she spoke about how acceptable school life was. Of course, there was possibly some room for genuine thought, but she certainly cared naught for anyone who wasn't the Ultimate Gambler herself, and perhaps whoever was in her motive video. Another time, he'd have to view them himself, he only got a glimpse of one or two. That sort of information...

"I-I mean... I-It was a stalemate, wasn't it? There wasn't enough conclusive evidence to point towards anyone, really... I would have thought I could've been ruled out pretty safely since I was supposed to be the only one who could access the trash room..." ...While valuable, was nowhere near as worth the price of observing what was going on now.

"Who did you vote for, I wonder? Leon, I presume?" He had his suspicions, but he had no idea who actually voted for who, other than Celeste voting for Leon and Chihiro voting for Makoto. What evidence or arguments swayed who to what would be crucial knowledge in understanding the pieces the mastermind set up. Knocking them down or rendering them obsolete were the name of the game.

"A-Actually, no... I-I voted for Mr. Naegi, I told him only I could get into the trash room... and he brought it up for Mr. Kuwata to argue for. D-Did you vote for Mr. Kuwata?" Not particularly surprising, between Makoto and Leon the evidence did seem stacked against Makoto. There was surely, absolutely no way for Leon to have opened the door, without a doubt.

"Yes, I did. I was convinced he had done it... I suppose Makoto fooled me, and not me alone." Celeste looked concerned, but it wasn't any natural look of dismay Byakuya had ever seen. It was most comparable to how Makoto looked when he was denied the privilege of his or Kyoko's time when they arrived in the entrance hall. "To think, with one miscast vote... we would have died."

"A good thing I voted correctly, then or else we would all have died!" Hifumi's statement was followed by a dry laugh, and then silence. It may not have lasted, but it reinforced what Byakuya already believed about Hifumi, a solid drive and reasonable sense of self worth backed up by no real confidence. Within a few back and forth statements, Celeste would get him all riled up about something or another, and that would be that. "...Why did you vote for Mr. Kuwata? Were you convinced about Mr. Naegi's explanation for the trash room?"

"That was part of it, yes, but based on the way he was acting... I couldn't help but think he had something to hide. If you know what to look for, you will see suspicious shapes all around you, in eyes, voices, body language... it's quite helpful to know the tells when you are a gambler." The manipulator gave a smile, knowing every and any trick required to get into a mind like Hifumi's. Her skill was almost commendable, if not misplaced, Hifumi was far from the best asset to have, his faith in your plans likely wavering easily, but anything in your back pocket was an asset you had.

"Y-You... You've done well in gambling from that?" What did he think, that she was lucky enough to never lose a game? "H-Huh..."

"It's not as uncommon a skill as you might think, I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks out for the same. It's good to keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary." With that, Byakuya had it all figured out, and took his leave. He had other places to be, other people to investigate, and precious seconds to make up after losing them to the idiotic argument in the kitchen.

While that answered several questions he had about the both of them, it opened up new ones, ones that would be solved in time. Ones such as why the headmaster enforced the rules so strictly, Junko's unusually exceptional reaction times, what was going on in Leon's head at this very moment, and Kyoko Kirigiri's true goals, which certainly were not in the best interests of everyone else here.

Along with these questions, Byakuya wondered what exactly would have happened if his experiment was a failure, but whatever it was, surely it wouldn't have posed him much of any problem to escape, and if it would have, then there was no danger regardless. Exactly as he predicted, no such thing happened, there was little point in giving a hypothetical any more of his time.  
~-~-~-~  
The door to Sayaka's room opened with a click, and she welcomed herself in. Of course, she wasn't Sayaka, who was dead. A rotting corpse off in a freezer in some bio lab, next to whatever was left of Makoto, probably.

She locked the door behind herself, and went about her business. Her business of searching. Nobody was *supposed* to be able to get in here anymore, so there wasn't any reason for Monokuma to sweep up what was inside. Of course, they were a bored and complicated bear, who knows what they'd get up to.

Junko didn't have much idea, but she could make a guess.

The mastermind... they wanted despair. They wanted to spread the feeling of hopelessness and to foster spirit and confidence just to crush it. They wanted pain and suffering and death to those who wanted to live. They wanted to drown themselves and everyone else with the want to give up and die.

Junko had walked over to the desk drawer, the room's dreariness remaining from entrance all the way to the back of the room. A dread that would instill sorrow and paranoia, and the grim reminder of the lives already lost from this game.

But the invader-of-privacy wasn't affected by that any, Sayaka got herself killed. The singer certainly didn't die with sympathy written all over her corpse, and Junko didn't know her any. Not the shady things she and her fans have done, not the dreams she chased or the hardships she faced in the industry. All she knew about Sayaka Maizono was that she was dead, and she died so the game could go on.

It was going to be someone, anybody with any sense knew ideas of escaping without a taste of the feeling of being on the bottom of the world was being downright moronic. If this game could be set up to begin with, then there was no way it was ending without despair running through each and every player, be it an emptying dread or cold death.

Junko rummaged through the drawers, her reason for being here missing. She made a brief scan of the top of the desk, but there was nothing worth her time. She turned around, glancing at the other table, in a messy state. Junko moved over and made a quick search there as well, but still, nothing of interest, and certainly nothing she wanted. No one was alive to care whether or not the room was a mess.

Looking around for any other place in the room, she noticed something at the top of the trash bin. Just like that, she'd found it. She reached down and snatched it up, before making a quick exit of the room.

As soon as she exited, she turned around and locked the door. Nobody there to see her, nobody was supposed to be out at night. Junko turned her attention down the hall, no urgency to complete her task, yet a pace in her step indicating otherwise. She put away the key to Sayaka's room and pulled out another... The key to Makoto's.

She unlocked the door, grasping the handle tightly. She paused, but only for a moment, and her... "resolve" returned as she opened the door, shutting it again to avoid suspicion.

Junko didn't know if what she was looking for was in here, but it didn't hurt her to try, and if it did, it was bound to happen regardless. She found what she wanted in Sayaka's room, maybe fortune would bless her twice. She had plenty of fortunate encounters in her... "working hours", going straight past miracles and into unbelievable fantasy, and yet, it didn't mean much to her. The people with the least have the most to give, and she had no opinions to give out. There were few things that sparked anything in her, live or die, it was just annoying.

She was about to leave, it was obvious what she wanted wasn't here, but her feet didn't move anywhere. Annoying. Junko walked towards the drawer again, as if there would be anything she wanted to see there.

A sick sense of humor was the only thing she found, something that almost certainly wasn't there before right on the desk. Junko gave it a glance over before shoving it with what she got from Sayaka's room.

What she wanted wasn't here, it never would be, since she was never coming back.

Junko exited Makoto's room, pulling out the unlucky student's key and sealing the room from further entry. She could toss the key, bury it in her trash or leave it out for Monokuma to snatch up, even pawn it off to somebody else if she wanted to ditch it so badly, but it stayed on her, next to Sayaka's key and her own, and what she'd taken.

Her last destination was ways away, but she had no worries about hitting it. There was one concern on her mind, and they couldn't make a showing of her death now. Monokuma's spears would wait until morning at least, maybe she got off scot-free. Another stroke of fortune.

She wasn't breaking any rules NOW, and she survived the due punishment that almost gave her exactly what she earned. But she was almost blessed in luck, and it'd run out sometime, but while it lasted, she'd be coasting on it to do whatever she wanted.

As if there was much, or any, point to what she was doing.

But she did it anyway, taking a stroll down the hallway, to the other area of the first floor. She made some attempt to remain quiet, but it was pointless, nobody was around and her boots made it impossible anyway, the heavy ringing every time they touched the floor filling the halls with sound. Each step reminded her how unnatural they felt, and how unnatural the determination around her seemed. She was probably best off, but she KNEW there would be nothing but anguish and misery ahead, yet the others wrapped themselves in hope. Hope they'd win, hope they'd survive, hope they'd escape, any sort of believe they could grasp in their hands and hold close.

She had nothing but a void filled with boots hitting the floor, and lifting up just to hit down again.

Junko opened the door of her next destination for the night, possibly the last, and if not, her own room would be the end of it all. The end of her school life or the end of the day, she could only guess, but this wasn't the time to ponder her luck, it was time to ponder the unlucky.

Junko reached for the CD she'd taken, swiped when Monokuma was surely watching her... LETTING her. Obviously, they didn't care, so long as she accepted what was coming for her eventually. She already did, as soon as her school life began, she knew it would come like this.

...And yet, she fought back. Against her fate, against her captor, against everyone in the class trial.

But even then, she still went searching.

Junko put the CD into a video player, taking a seat. With a few button presses, a video began playing. A video of smiling faces, gorgeous idols, and girls willing to do anything and everything for their friends and their dreams.

But those dreams were gone now. Gone with Sayaka Maizono, gone with the years passed and the trends changed, gone with the dirty things the pretty and pure Sayaka has done, and the even worse things her fan have done for her.

The video switches, and Sayaka is gone. Her friends... Her friends are gone too... But not like that, not like she was, not in the video, and not now. Where they were, Junko didn't know, and she certainly didn't give a damn. She hadn't even bothered turning on the audio. She imagined the voices of the pop stars and the monochrome bear responsible for the end of the band.

Junko popped out the disc, picking it up and clicking it back into its' case. There wasn't anything stopping her from walking away now, or throwing the disc to the wall, even just tossing it aside or shoving it in a box, but she packed it neatly, just like it was something she valued. But the people in the video were strangers. She didn't know Sayaka, she didn't know any of them, and she didn't care any.

If Monokuma was able to set up this recording, then it was obvious. Those girls were all dead, united with their best friend in hell, the best friend who tried to murder someone.

Sitting on-top of the video player Junko chose was a box, one she could've tossed the bare CD into, but instead, she fed it the packaged and carefully protected video showing the dead. She brought the box closer to her, looking at everything else inside. Half of the CDs were missing, no doubt strewn about the others' rooms or even in the same one she was in now, but there were several still in the box.

Junko Enoshima, Sakura Ogami, Toko Fukawa, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Byakuya Togami, and buried beneath the Sayaka disc just thrown into the box, was Makoto Naegi.

Her hand held the last CD in it, before dropping it back into the box. Like Sayaka's, it was worthless to her. Watching the first one was just keeping herself busy, waiting until she ran out of time, and Monokuma boiled and mashed her into whatever dish he wanted, ready to serve as a reminder of this reality. Makoto's... She had no reason to view it, she was already bored of it.

But she picked it up again, and opened the case. A CD so easily smashable now exposed, away from the only border protecting it from cracking and shattering, yet no harm would befall it in Junko's hands, she just wanted to watch it.

She wanted to watch it, inserting it into the player as she put the box back. She was just bored, she had nothing else to do. If she wanted to look at it, she could. She was just curious, nothing more.

The video started up, same as Sayaka's, but something was very different. This video... Junko had turned the audio up for.

The voices of three people she knew nothing about reached her head, filling it with their image and the sounds of praise and concern they voiced for their precious Makoto Naegi, a saint who could do no wrong. A boy with a smile that warmed hearts, beloved by his adoring little sister and his parents so grateful to have a child who could smile without worry, knowing he would be just fine, with no troubles they couldn't help him with.

Maybe they could tell him all of the words they said over and over in the same inferno their beautiful boy was in for taking another life.

They disappear, and Makoto's apartment is in ruins. The same ugly and frightening sight his room was in when the Ultimate Idol died. The same horrendous, repulsive, stomach-turning sight that was all that was left of the Ultimate Unlucky Student.

As soon as an obnoxious voice begins its laughter, the volume lowers to silence, and Junko closes her eyes, one hand pulling away from the volume knob and the other reaching for the second present she got herself on her midnight stroll. Something specifically there for her to find, Makoto was dead, after all, and she had the key to what remained of his memory.

Two kids laughing, sitting right next to one another, laughing about Allah, Deus, and whatever holy spirit knows what, but there was undeniable joy on their faces. There was no worry on their mind, no fear of the future, the past, or any sort of pain in their bones, just two bundles of happiness who knew the true meaning of bliss.

To Junko, bliss was exactly as it was now, being able to do whatever she wanted, even if none of it filled her with much of anything. But that wasn't euphoria, or anything close to happy. These two kids... That was happy.

The only way it could've been further from her bliss was if it was of something she remembered. A kid she remembered. But plain as day, the two children in what she held were Naegi's. Naegi's who were dead or suffering.

Junko waited on the black screen, and on the dead silence of nighttime, her eyes still closed. She doesn't need to open them to remember the photograph in her hands, and she definitely doesn't need them to realize how rude someone else was being. She may have been a robber, but she wasn't spying on anyone.  
~-~-~-~  
"Wah!!! K-Kyoko! Don't fucking do that!"

Leon was still on edge, it seemed. Understandable, considering he was wrongfully accused of a crime and almost executed along with everyone else. Most any innocent man would panic with almost certain guilt painted on their back, just as any guilty man would panic when their crime was exposed.

"Apologies." Kyoko closed her eyes, giving a small smile. Anything to show a bit of friendliness, she was far from in Leon's good books, and if she was going to get co-operation out of anyone, she needed them to not want her guts on the floor. "You shouldn't be out so late, Monokuma gave the nighttime announcement a half hour ago."

"...I'll go to bed in a minute. Can't fucking sleep now." Leon turned back towards what he was looking at, the Monomono Machine. He produced a coin from somewhere on his person, inserting it and giving the machine a spin. The machine spit out a capsule, opening up to a small ticket, a picture of a can on it. Leon grabbed the ticket, slamming it on the counter and helping himself to his earned prize, a Cola Cola can, one of many, lined up on a rack to the right. "What's it to you, anyway? Why do you care?"

"If you haven't noticed, I've been far from unkind to you since we've gotten here." It's true she's kept her distance, mostly, but Leon was dangerous. Not someone she can let walk around, doing whatever he wanted. Lucky her, she thought it was a waste of time, but she's underestimated him, he didn't give in so easily. Of course, his attitude made him the ideal candidate for this killing game, the ideal victim in a murder just like Sayaka Maizono's. "I'm not exactly extending my hand out in friendship, but I haven't wished ill towards you, have I?"

"How about when you tried to paint me like the god damn KILLER!?!" Leon wasn't about to let that matter go... she did push for his execution, after all... and apparently she was wrong. No one was perfect, but it simply didn't add up that Makoto was the killer. However, he played a major role in shifting the discussion in whatever way he wanted, nearly framing Leon for his crime. Even if he was the intended target, he was a mastermind at the game he almost survived. "You've been fucking screwin' with me in the elevator, and almost got us all killed!"

"In the elevator, I was just telling you to calm down. You were distressed, and you clearly have something or someone you need to see out of this school." Kyoko resumed a neutral expression, crossing her arms. She didn't have much in the way of "womanly charms", and playing nice wasn't working, so what felt most natural was probably best... if she could even call this natural. "You were a prime suspect for a killer, as your behavior increased tenfold ever since this morning. Makoto did his best to try and make you look like the killer, and I don't think anyone has figured out every hole in the case."

"Half of that shit we wouldn't have even discussed if you didn't put it on the table!" The baseball player was adamant about Kyoko being in the wrong... ultimately, there was only so much she could do. If she kept an ear out, she wouldn't be in danger, if his tells were the same then as they were now. Far from ideal, but she knew how tough this game would be since it began. "You probably did a better job of making me look like killer of the year than Makoto did!"

"Again, Makoto was who put all of the evidence in place, I fell for the trap he laid out." Makoto was the killer, and the evidence pointing to Leon was part of his plan. Elaborate, who knows how many hours were put into the plan. Alternatively, how quickly he devised something nearly bullet-proof. Had he lasted any longer, he could have been a valuable asset, or a major threat. "Blame me if you want, but that won't get anything done other than make others more suspicious of you. Even if you didn't do it, I don't think your attitude is exactly popular among everyone else."

"What the hell am I supposed to do, just lie down and accept that I was wrong when they all tried to KILL ME?" Leon had barely taken a sip of his cola, yet he'd already crushed the can in his fists, gooey liquid oozing onto his hands. A dripping not unlike blood, or the mushy remains they'd all saw earlier today.

"You already seemed to forgive Toko, and you didn't throw a fit at the lunch table until Monokuma showed up." He was holding onto bitterness as if it were a solution to his problem, when it was anything but, it was just making it harder for him to work with anyone. You could never know who was trustworthy, but someone in his situation could certainly benefit from allies... if he needed any. "None of us can keep our noses completely clean, but we don't all have it out for one another."

Kyoko turned and left the school store, beginning the walk to her room. Plenty of things were bouncing around in her head, and she needed to organize it, to clear it out so she could focus. It would be deadly if she let her mind wander, she didn't have time to waste on another other than her search. She needed to expose the mysteries here... for whatever reason.

Her motive video didn't help her any, nor did wasting her time on Leon. He was too skeptical... Or maybe whiny. The amount of adjectives she could slap on the baseball player were more plentiful than anything else she could recall. Kyoko's attempts at calming him down didn't work, or maybe he noticed the same advice she gave to Makoto. She had to keep every door open, and only one of them could have done it.

Kyoko's musing about the deceased and the suspect were halted, when her head was filled with another thought, Junko Enoshima. The same Junko who survived Monokuma's punishment, and was now in the AV Room, past night, with the door wide open. She didn't need to spend more than a second thinking about it before she made the choice to listen in, situating herself right next to the doorframe.

Kyoko turned her head and tilted her body, peering into the room. Junko was watching a motive video... Certainly not her own. Kyoko recognized the girl who disappeared a moment after she looked into the room. Her appearance was as brief as the time she spent in the game, but that was almost indubitably Sayaka Maizono.

She couldn't get a view of her face, but she did the best she could observing her body language. She seemed... Dead, but the smell of a life taken was nowhere to be found. In a trance was the better description, Kyoko bet if she saw her face, it would be that of a fixated gaze, one on a horrific and personal sight, and yet...

Soon, the video ended, and Junko fiddled with the other CDs, putting another one in the player, this time with the audio on. Kyoko went back behind the wall and began considering motives, starting with sympathy... Or guilt. Either one seemed like a reasonable cause, but it could be something else entirely, she could be searching for information to help her survive the game, looking at what her enemies valued and what went wrong for the participants who failed. Junko had a few red flags surrounding her, but she wasn't acting unreasonably. She bounced the idea against the walls of her head, but no verdict was reached, she wasn't so foolish as to immediately decide upon an answer.

Makoto's lie... If it WAS Makoto who lied, fooled her, but she took no offense to the loss. It was an error of judgement that could be quickly amended with another possibility.

Kyoko peered in the room again, her mind was wandering, and the second video had ended, Monokuma's narration of whatever happened to that family coming to an end. Junko pulled out something her observer couldn't catch a glimpse of, turning it over in her hands as if she'd been handed something to inspect. Junko's hands stopped moving, and she turned to the door, the only thing she could possibly see the blackness of the hallway.

A few steps back, and what was almost a twirl, Kyoko was now coming down the hall, yet to pass the AV Room... And the last part of her ruse was walking by, his hand all sticky from his outburst. Kyoko walked next to Leon, the middle of a conversation spouting from her lips.

"...My advice wasn't the best, but I don't plan on taking it back. I was right, you need to balance your emotions and your logic more. You'll be an easy target like that." Leon gave an annoyed scowl, turned soon into a puzzled face when Kyoko pointed a finger at the AV Room door. He wasn't exactly the shining definition of smart or kind, but she'd already made her bet, and if her gamble paid off, maybe he would really calm down. She was taking a risk trying to solve the questions she had at all, there was no reason not to go all the way.

'The hell do you mean, easy target? You're the one strolling around in the middle of the fucking night, and what about-!" Kyoko held a hand in front of Leon, as soon as they passed the AV Room again, their bickering and midnight stroll the new focus of the fashionista out and about at this time of night.

"What the heck are you two doing up at this time of night, didn't we agree on a curfew?" Kyoko didn't need to think twice about her response, but Leon started speaking.

"I could ask the same thing, you know. Why the fuck are you in the AV Room?" The same tense energy she'd felt from him since this game started seeped out of his words. The caution and care she'd put into every word or movement she made when talking to him was cutting wires on a bomb, flying off the handle if her hand moved slightly too far left. Kyoko wasn't sure if she'd figured out all that made him tick, but she was betting on him, hopefully for her benefit.

"I was just looking at the videos, and lost track of time... damn bear..." Junko's voice barely reached their ears, becoming a quiet that was unusual out of her. That wasn't all that was questionable compared to what she said... she was being careless, if she wasn't trying to plant false suspicions. "Now, what about you two?"

"I was heading back to my room, and I found Leon in the school store. We ended up talking for awhile, I suppose we also lost track of time." Kyoko gave another small smile. She didn't make it a secret she was keeping an eye out, but it was good form to act nicely. Anyone could become a valuable asset, and comfort could save a life. "We're heading back to our rooms now, you'd better do the same."

"I'll be there in a minute, just let me put away the discs." Junko was back to the more noisy and forceful tones the "students" had known in the past few days, a sudden snap back from showing weakness or negativity... A lot different from her earlier reactions, she hadn't let out a grin since yesterday, and she was brash, not incompetent, she could very well be putting on a show of her own. With a sudden giant grin, she spoke again. "Don't be too rough with Leon, I don't think he can take it!"

That was... Too on the nose, something was almost undoubtedly odd about her behavior, there was some facade she was wrapping herself in. Traitor, planning to escape, not wanting to worry anyone, the mastermind, suspicious of the girl covered in purple and her unlikely companion being out at this hour... Not a mystery she could prioritize at the moment.

Leon had started to walk off, vulgar "muttering" spilling out as he walked back to the dorms. Kyoko followed suit, possibilities about Leon soon coming back to the forefront of her mind. She could test two theories at once if she made the right moves, but her luck with him was far from stellar. Her prior gambles were no more dangerous, though, so she put her plan into motion without hesitation, stopping Leon when they'd arrived at the doors leading to the fifteen participants' rooms.

"Wait."

"What the hell is it now? Am I gonna get an apology for playing along so you could get away with being a spying asshole?"

"For the record, you decided to help me, and don't you think it's a bit suspicious?" Based on his reaction, she could very well determine her enemy, or ONE of her enemies, at any rate, if she put on her best spectacle. Leon was sure to be swayed somehow if he wasn't playing the fool. "Why would Junko be watching the videos? The CD that was laid on the counter said "Makoto Naegi", NOT Junko Enoshima. She was also doing it during nighttime, when we should all be in our rooms. Alone, wandering past nighttime isn't too suspicious, but with the CDs..."

"...Guess that is weird, huh..." No arguing, no telling her to "shove it up her ass" or anything like that. It could very well mean suspicion, but if not... "But what the hell does it mean? She's sad about the dead people? Not afraid to throw her life away?"

"I'm not sure, it could be any of those things, or even something else." Kyoko couldn't settle on any one answer, but more importantly, handing out her answers defeated the purpose of her experiment. Leon and Junko... far from the biggest matters on her plate, but anywhere she had doubt was something she needed to explore. "Watch your back, especially around her. If you keep acting like you are, no doubt someone will try and make another suspect, or worse."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up!" Leon snapped back again, but the same malice radiating off of him wasn't present... either he was acting, or Junko actually had caught his eye. If it were the latter... Kyoko needed to re-evaluate Leon again. Was he that easy to impress upon or just a fool? Even the other way around was possible... "How the hell'd you notice the CD she was looking at? Are you gonna say you're the Ultimate Psychic or something?"

"No, I'm definitely not." To Kyoko's knowledge, there was no such thing as a psychic. Hagakure had solid intuition rendered worthless by a mind that was *too* imaginative, and whoever was running the show had cameras and probably help to keep them informed. "But enough of this, it's almost a new day, we should get some rest. Think about what Junko was doing, if you want, and try to limit your nighttime activities from now on. It probably isn't good for either of us to be walking around at night." Kyoko walked to her room, not a moments hesitation... until Leon said something else right before she closed the door.

"...Night, Kyoko."

"Good night."

Kyoko closed her door, doing the lock and considering what she'd done. Suspect people, as you should, and search for the truth, as you also should. In a situation like this, the more you knew, the better, and excusing action by sugarcoating it with belief was nonsensical. Faith only painted yourself a target for whoever else was as weak as you were, and just like that, a murder and an execution.

Trying to get into the head of every participant, living or otherwise, wasn't exactly easy to keep track of, but if anyone wanted to survive, they would do exactly that. Who would move when, who feels so strongly to act, who is planning a betrayal or also observing your nervous ticks while trying not to give away your intent... it was a lot to take in, but Kyoko had to organize it all, tossing out anything she could determine falsehood. The amount of "truths" she'd considered already were still in endless supply, and the longer the game went on, the more she'd have to piece together. Such was... her life.

Kyoko walked to her bathroom. The water wasn't running, but the mirror still worked, and that's all she really wanted to look at at this hour. Nothing so far had filled her with a sense of worry, a sense of worry that had her sweating bullets and an alarming realization that she didn't have the answers. Most everything that changed how she thought about the situation was easy to accept.

But waking up behind a counter in a gaudy giftshop, unable to remember what was hiding behind the gloves on her hands, brought her out of action. Whoever the mastermind was almost certainly knew she had weaknesses, just like anyone else. Kyoko surveyed the woman in the mirror. The chances of a fluke accident alongside the killing game were low... Monokuma did something to her.

She couldn't remember ever feeling like that. It was a new feeling, just like every other feeling. Every other thought. People looked at her funny when she ran her hands over a corpse, as if it were still Sayaka Maizono, as if it was an unnatural thing to do. She didn't even need to think about it, once Leon ran off, she combed the bathroom head to toe, and the rest of the room soon after.

It all made perfect sense to her, and her alone.

It would be so much easier if she could just ask the woman in the mirror every question she had, but Kyoko Kirigiri had nothing to say. Nothing to say to herself... and nothing to say to Makoto.

Kyoko realized she was scowling in the mirror, yet she didn't feel anger. At least, she didn't think so... but this was the same expression she gave to Makoto. It looked almost betrayed.

Betrayed... Makoto's face was probably identical to when Sayaka's "victim" was assaulted by the selfish popstar. Betrayal had to have went through his mind when he was executed for a crime he didn't commit.

Kyoko left the bathroom, lying down on her bed, which failed to do all a bed should. Clear your mind, ease your pain, give you comfort. The only thing it did right was send her drifting asleep, she needed rest if she was going to keep playing this game of betrayal, and getting Leon and Junko to give her answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My consistency as to whether or not to put notes at the end of chapters keeps changing. From here on out, I'll probably just do it every chapter, I HAD notes in the first chapter but they kept getting pushed to the last chapter of the story so I eventually cut them entirely.
> 
> Anyway, hope THAT was a fun ride (If you're reading the notes first, don't), or at least a semi-interesting one. Byakuya, Leon, and Mondo's segments were way too short, Toko, Celeste and Hifumi probably didn't show up nearly enough, (Originally I was going to have everyone have their own segments instead of just half of the cast, but I realized that was way too ambitious for what was supposed to be a "bonus filler" and I had no good ideas for Toko, Hifumi or Chihiro) and Sakura's entire thing was probably just bad, but I hope it provided some interesting insight onto what the other characters were thinking, and set up for some interactions, namely more Leon & Toko, as well as Hiro & Taka and Hina & Junko, plus the obvious Mondo & Chihiro and Aoi & Sakura (I've always called her Aoi, her segment was a pain in the ass). It was good practice trying to write a bunch of different characters, most of them in a more traditional writing style than I've done for Leon, and trying to make them all sound both different from one another and like themselves, even if I failed for all of them except Aoi and Byakuya probably.
> 
> One final gift, because you probably need something else to get you to keep reading, here's exactly who voted for who in the last trial.
> 
> No Vote Cast: Makoto  
Leon: Kyoko, Junko, Celeste, Taka  
Hifumi: Hiro, Toko, Mondo, Sakura  
Makoto: Byakuya, Leon, Aoi, Chihiro, Hifumi
> 
> Hope that explains a vague statement or two in this chapter.


	6. Ultimate Useless Dumbasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up completely cutting the scene I titled this chapter after, being something involving Leon and Toko hanging out, but that'll be next time, I guess. I'll save most of the talk for the end, as it addressing my general writing philosophy, how I've been writing this story in particular, and some other shit that's probably better for the end. Inspired by... Vinesauce, I guess, and a friend of mine.
> 
> Oh, I did write over half of this chapter today and yesterday, like, 3200 words yesterday and 1700 today, when this has been in production since March, which, again, took a break because I'm bad at time management and wanted to work on other things, none of which got done except for a foreshadowing fic for a personal project I'm writing for a friend disguised as a late bad April Fools joke. I even actually uploaded it and everything, if you care, it's completely pointless and goes nowhere but it's better writing removed from context than this is. Also, the hardest part about writing is re-reading your own stuff after you finished it to look for errors. Good fucking thing I did it this time, though, there were like three or four unfinished sentences that came as a byproduct of me now writing things out of order, which is more efficient despite significantly larger margin for error.

Leon wasted no time walking out of the dining hall as soon as Monokuma left, a mutual killing game was just dandy if it at least gave him an excuse to wander around, away from the 12 biggest dicks since those guys who had the balls to kill Caesar. Kiyotaka and Hagakure were insufferable, even セレスティア・ルーデンベルク had the decency to shut up for the meal, at least.

Mondo ran off to the bathhouse, have fun scorching your ass off, dumbass. Leon didn't see where the hell everyone else ran off to, but he had a sliver of hope that dragged him over to the first floor hall, praying there wasn't somebody already there to give him a big friendly speech about how much life doesn't suck around the corner. Save your preaches for someone you didn't think was a bloody, cold killer. Leon'll show you cold with a side of salad if you keep it up!

No sign of Kiyotaka, or anybody else in his fuckin' path, it was almost a 12th Perigee's Eve miracle, not a single person to see the funny faces and question if he was having a stroke. From the dining hall to the middle of the first floor, not a single goddamn person there to ruin his already worsening mood because he can't shut himself the fuck up. Leon turned to the entrance hall, the first place other than hell he could remember where shit wasn't open, and Mondo's already hightailed over to the burning pandemonium. Leon didn't want to check that place out anyway, he couldn't understand why people liked the heat.

Baseball as-is was already a chore, every single game was stand around for 10 minutes, toss or hit a ball, run around in the dirt for another 10 minutes, rinse and repeat until you won or lost and then stand around for 10 more minutes getting out of the stupid, tight-ass uniform right next to a bunch of crazy people.

Throwing around the ball was easy, hittin' the thing back was even easier, and the running wasn't exactly hard, even if it was also a foot-long-golden-sword-up-the-ass level of pain. He used to even go to fuckin' practices... do even more of this shit, wahoo. Spending August 14th from noon to sundown running across the field back and forth, back and fucken forth, until the searing heat took him to the ground... but look! Still, sun's up. Now swing the bat until your fingerbones shatter and your hazy head things the street is clear when you're walking home and you almost get hit by a short guy on a bike.

Every joint ached, every muscle felt like bursting over the dinner table, each and every single piece of skin was coated in a thick layer of disgusting, hot sweat and dirt in places Leon didn't even knew existed.

Sweat and dirt and pains and a whole number of other problems already existed just from playing baseball for a three hour game, but the heat. The fucking heat only psychopaths enjoyed. That stupid mechanic and Mondo and god knows how many of his baseball team actually LIKED the heat. Waves coming down from the bright asshole signalling another day of school or some more shouting from a psychopath. Nekomaru wasn't even the worst coach he had, but he would never shut up, and the worst drills were saved SPECIFICALLY for when it was hot out.

Leon hadn't even gotten to why heat was so awful, but even with heat, baseball was still a hell of a lot better than this stupid fucking game, but baseball was out of this school, along with hellish sun rays and all sorts of better shit than either of those things. Made baseball almost bearable.

Hell, baseball wasn't even completely awful, and the sun was alright as long as you were indoors and air-conditioned, science class was way worse. So was the stupid giant steel circle coated in machinery shit and a giant turret gun.

Without even bothering to try shattering his fist bones like he cracked the sound barrier, the Ultimate Pitcher (And Batter, Runner, and Catcher, and also Walker, fucking neon coated geek) backed out of the entrance hall and into the hallway.

Leon glanced down the hall, his crockpot full of Kuwata musings like "FUCK BASEBALL, well actually-" and whatever random bullcrap he remembered from stupid mangas and tv shows floating around with last night's dinner which was somehow still in his body. He didn't have a real breakfast, and Junko's specialty of ham sandwich and beans wasn't appetizing enough to fill anything.

...But even still, while he and Toko were trying to kill each other with shitty insults and grapefruits, she tried to make them something.

All of the violent, paranoiac thoughts Leon had just hours... Fuckin' minutes ago, even, were gone. He was just harping on about how everybody was just like Sayaka... But here he was, having just fucking helped Toko, and trying to paint Junko like the good guy in his own goddamn eyes.

But both of them... Both of them would stab him in the damn back if it benefited them any. Even if they waited seven years, they'd still toss him in the incinerator like the fuckin' jacket he threw out-!

The fuckin' shirt he lost that was used in the murder, which he was not responsible for. He didn't do a fucking thing except survive.

He always did the bare minimum on assignments, and baseball was as easy as high temperatures were ass, no reason this place would be any different. Surviving was enough as is, what fucking else could be even be doing?

Leon didn't know left from right let alone the answer, all he knew was he wasn't buzzing in with "Truth". Togami could hit the fucking button if he wanted to, enter some English jargon or whatever and earn more money than he could ever spend, plus the deed to The Holy See and the Ultimate Hacker's grandmother.

Nothing screamed "assbackwards" like the same stupid bullshit his head kept... Putting into his head. Ultimate Wordsmith, somewhere over the rainbow and through the woods to bunnysuit ville far a-fucking-way from here, stupid fucking-!

"Hey, Leon, are you okay?"

For the eighth or so time today, he was roped back out of his own swamp of a head by someone else's voice. Kyoko, Monokuma, or otherwise... But no vegetable or other nuisance was making him want to swallow several knives and a stale waffle, not now, anyway. Hina wasn't waking up at home, but she was like... getting an A on that stupid Chemistry Assignment.

"...Uh, Leon?"

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"I was just asking if you were fine, jeez..." Hina pouted, crossing her arms and reminding Leon of another reason he didn't have a single friend here. "First Toko and then you..."

"The hell'd Toko do?" Probably try and kill the swimmer, or kill someone else, or insult her profession and interests, and favorite foods and choice in clothing... What didn't Toko do, other than live a childhood with a puppy uneaten? "Did she blow you off or something?"

"Exactly! I just asked if she wanted to investigate with me and Sakura, and then she just accused me of trying to lure her into a trap!" She didn't look it, but she sounded angry. Many pay attention to their face, rarely their voice, as... Fuckin' Gado Takahashi said to him in grade school or something. Irony was he was a gullible idiot, despite the grades he got back... "I guess I can't blame her for being on edge... since..."

Leon stamped out the thought of an old schoolmate just as he did so many other things since whatever time of day Sayaka planned to kill someone, looking back to the now downcast swimming pro. No matter how he sliced himself a piece of cake, that gooey and sticky mess of a Makoto or whatever other piece of the pie he wanted spoiled his whole brain cake. "Toko's just being whiny, don't listen to her. Even if you handed her the deed to Australia she would accuse you of bullying her."

"I guess so... but still, we're not gonna get anything done if we don't work together." Yeah, working together. Hina might be better, but she's still as stupid as Hagakure and Kiyotaka. "-What the hell, Leon?"

Sure, Hina wasn't gonna be the next Nietzsche, but the koala-brained pile of cute face and sexy figure standing in this hallway was Leon himself, of fucking course, his own dumbass can't even keep in a snort, and Hina was trying to be reasonable. "I-I mean... Y-Yeah, we should work together!"

"Are you STILL mad about the trial!? All the evidence pointed to you until the end, y'know? And don't blame us, we voted for Makoto!" The less cute and sexy but apparently way absofuckinglutely smarter Hina finished her mini-sized tangent, stomping off towards the stairs... Now open. Just like that, Leon was off the subject of Hina, no time wasted on bitching, but now he was thinking about that so he was bitching aaaand just shut the fuck up, Leon Dickhead Kuwata.

The most profound ass in the country turned the other way, facing the gym. A wonderful place full of fun memories like meeting Monokuma or that time Junko almost died, not to mention the probable lives lost to gym class. Not even in the room to the gym and the athlete just wanted to turn his ass around and go to his room to nap.

...But the order to explore the new world was all about shattering the crap he'd built up during the trial about keeping his lid sealed tight on the rest of his head. Come one, come all, glare at Leon Kuwata, the world's greatest nonsense speaker! He can make lists about arbitrary things and keep his cool only and exclusively when Hekiru Shiina or whatever her name was, Gambler Bitch, was on his ass! He also has the power of being distracted by everything from vegetable's eyes to hypothetical water-flavored desiccated sustenance bars to his own lists!

You, over there, from the totally legit killing game without a proper given name, Coupon Lass, right? Wanna see what such an intense donkey ass can do! With all of his lists, the only useful one was the amount of other trash that had any value.

1\. He had no obligations to anyone else here, he had to survive.

2\. The tasty looking vegetable was a bitch.

3\. There was absolutely no way Monokuma's motive videos were real.

4\. The bootleg neon him was way shittier at everything, including walking.

Everything else went straight from his ass to his head, pushing anything important out of his giant useless ears, like Hina's weird anger or everyone else's struggles and sensible advice or his own fucking idiocy.

Well, that last one was CERTAINLY untrue, if there was anything he always remembered, it was how to be the stupidest phucker this side of the gulag, with all of how he was thinking about literally nothing.

"...Why the heck are you cackling like a nutjob?"

"...Just going crazy stuck in this place, I mean, I'm just fine!" He was a cool guy, lot of ladies and the odd guy wanted him, most of the time he'd humor 'em even if he wasn't interested, but today, he was fucking melting. Eggs on top of a car because people in the US are fuckin' crazy, they've got some okay media but those people are whack.

"You're basically asking to get killed if you keep acting like that," Same as ever, Junko was making her exaggerated annoyed expressions, turning away and crossing her arms, but still glaring straight at him, just look forward like a regular person, woman. "If not because you're so vulnerable, because you're being annoying."

"Yeah, let me just put my faith in advice from the violent girl who's made it pretty damn clear how much she wants to get out of here, great idea!" Not even everything he'd thought today combined outweighed how stupid that idea was... it would soon, knowing his track record, but not now. "You've got your entire modelling career to look forward to, fuckin' anybody would kill to be as popular as you are."

"Who said what I actually have to look forward to?" Junko did away with her ridiculous poses, standing straight and staring Leon down. The hell nerve did he hit with her now? "This place sucks, but... I only want to get out of here because of that."

"What? You're a damn fashionista, you can get basically whatever you want with a snap of your fingers, I'm sure." As the perfect picture of a fine figure, Leon's talent wasn't in being able to read people, but Junko was talking out of her ass, guaranteed. "If there's anything or anybody you want, it should be easy! You got into Hope's Peak, didn't you?"

"So what? Makoto got in on a whim, Celeste got lucky, and nobody knows what, if anything, got Kyoko into this school." Okay, downplay yourself to hell despite being a super famous icon that everyone owns posters of, people always dream of getting fuckin' higher, grass is always easier to hide corpses in. "You're famous too, I'm sure you know it isn't all sunshine and rainbows."

"Baseball fuckin' sucks, sure, but at least it's easy. Dunno if it's the same as modelling or not, but if that's easy too, that's all the more reason to look forward to it!" You'll never understand another person unless you take a walk in their skin or whatever, people are snakes and'll backstab you, using their own skin as light armor. "You've got plenty of time to do whatever you wanna do, screw around with your friends and family and shit, at least."

"Not everyone's content with just screwing around. You just said how many people apparently want my popularity, they want something in life, they have a dream." Junko remained unmoving in her pose, no hand gestures or staring down or any of her regular shit... Hell, she almost sounded different. Possessed by the evil spirit of his history teacher, wow. "Sitting down and doing nothing may be how you live your life, but some people can't just live like that."

Leon rolled his eyes, a bit more consciously than that snort cutting his talk with less-annoying hot lady Hina into pieces, giving his rebuttal as quick as his opinions on anybody in this building could change. "Life's all about enjoying yourself, right? Why the hell should you even keep on living if you're not gonna have fun with your life? Fuck around all you want, if you're enjoying it, who cares?"

"A lot of people care, actually. You being able to own a couch is only because of the people who made it and kept you fed and protected from terrorists. People like you are the reason I hate the fashion industry..." With that, she left the gym, her last statement filled with more "flair", a flashy, slightly over-exaggerated exit just as more usual when talking to her high and mighty ass. Even if she was talking just as much nonsense as he was thinking, she still left him wondering, wondering why...

...Why in the hell was Junko telling him all of that now?

They weren't close, holding hands and being all lovey dovey, sitting down and just hanging out, staring off into space with no attempt to talk and even less attempt to leave one another's company. She was a complete stranger. The most interaction they had was living in the same building, like people on the first and fourth floors of an apartment building, one working the day shift and the other the night. They weren't any sort of star-crossed lovers who'd be on a date if it wasn't hunting season for the Ultimates, or people who went to middle school together and haven't seen one another for five years. They haven't spent a year of passing one another on the street or even shared an awkward elevator ride once. There was absolutely no reason for either of them to act any different than they would for another stranger.

But she was talking about a whole manner of serious shit to someone with his head so far up his ass it came back out where his head would be anyway and nobody could tell he was that much of a wacko. With that neon asshole at least his hair was hot pink to give away he wasn't good for anything, Leon was just a regular punk at first glance and a fuckwit cocksucker five minutes into meeting him.

...And it wasn't like him to be bitching about himself, he was talented at shit he didn't care about, let alone his perfect singing voice and stellar face, plus a tolerable personality and taste in clothes. At least be doing shit while also complaining about himself, or better yet, reminiscing on how at he knows how to fucking walk properly. Wasn't like him at all to get down about himself! To wonder whether he was a fucking psychopath or not, sure, but thinking about that was the same shit that put him here to fucking begin with worrying about Junko or another else or being a massive cunt, forget it, he had a gym to explore!

...Fuck gyms.

If there was anything here, Junko would've said something, or would say something later, point is, nothing there to find other than some balls that were there earlier and all the spears that missed Junko by centimeters a few hours ago. Leon waltzed out of the exercise hellhole with a mood fitting of someone who wasn't in such an awful situation, but it was the little things in life, like not pissing Junko off to a point where she killed him. She had the damn chance to live her life for all those people who built her couches and made her meals and fought to the death for their country, she could enjoy the damn high life while she has it, if she doesn't have anything else to look forward to.

...He was different, he had a different goal. That Junk-Food Junkie didn't have anything else, but at least she had something, and she was upset.

Whatever shit he had to sort out about Junko, he pushed it off for a later him, the Kuwata of the now had better things to worry about-! Err... do with his time.

Like tossing a ball in boredom while walking to the locker room, but without the ball and just the boredom and the walking, Leon began walking with boredom but no ball to toss just air to make random motions in if he wanted to, but he didn't, because that was boring and dumb.

Instead, he had interrupted Richie Rich's path down the stairs as he went up.

"..."

"..."

"I suppose I don't need to tell you you're blocking the path, deliberately keeping me from going down, more likely." Togami didn't glare or scowl or anything, he was too busy thinking about something else, it looked like, but he still took his long expensive cock across Leon's face with his words. "Attempt to kill me or ask me something, if that's what you're trying to do. I've already wasted enough time as is today, what is a few more seconds of letting you try to entertain me?"

"Alright, sarcastic asshat, I just wanted to know if you saw anything." Goddammit, don't clench your fists or your teeth, or do anything else that makes you look like an angry asshole, Leon, you have enough enemies today as is. "And don't bother saying my social skills are worse than a rock, unlike a rock I can at least go fast enough to escape Hifumi's gravitational pull."

"I suppose you expect props for such a basic observation that I was going to point out your ineptitude?" Togami's focus was now on the conversation, staring down at Leon like he did anyone, with his 180' something tall self propped up 60% by ego. "I would commend you for acknowledging not knowing how to ask a question, and thinking the best way was to block someone's path and stay silence, which would be worthy of being pointed out as a new low, but the few seconds I had to spare have long since past."

Togami continued, going back to his thinking position... whatever it was in his absolutely massive brain apparently really interested him, huh... perfect time to stab him, if he was that kind of person, but there's no way at all Leon would stab someone like that. Absolutely no way. "Still, you aren't going to move unless I speak, and it couldn't hurt to entertain you a bit myself..."

"...So, in short on the second floor there is a library, a pool, and more classrooms and bathrooms. Nothing noteworthy, other than the separation of locker rooms by the sex listed in your e-handbook. There was a notification earlier where the rules updated, apparently we have Taka to thank for not being allowed to lend out our handbooks anymore."

"That's a weird rule... these things basically have no use, I don't understand why anybody would ever want yours." Monokuma cared about a lot of stupid things, mostly his own godawful jokes and references that made Leon look uncultured and not annoying, but new records were being set all across the school today, one of them Monokuma's new lowered standards.

"You could take someone else's e-handbook and leave it at a crime scene as evidence, and then even when they called you out there would be no telling whether you or the one who lost it was telling the truth, not without further investigation." Togami smiled at the though... giving away your amazing evil plan, nice. "It's a foolish thought, exactly the kind someone stupid enough to think it would work would employ, but I suppose Monokuma doesn't want any of you giving away your plan so easily, it wouldn't make the game any fun to him either."

Leon half-stepped aside half-was pushed away by the sheer smug coming from the progeny's figure, Togami descending the stairs as Leon could finally go up, obviously not doing that when he could throw away even more time muttering.

"You're the one who thought of using the handbook like that, dumbass..."

With enough wasted time under his belt to unlock the next area, Leon finally got up to the second floor... it was the same creepy-ass lights as the first floor, still clashing with the design of the whole place, and what was probably a giant lack of students in what was an otherwise very good Hope's Peak Academy knockoff, just with a creepier vibe that was enough to fuck him up. It was a damn impressive replica, but it HAD to be somewhere other than Hope's Peak, hundred percent a knockoff.

Hope's Peak wouldn't let their best and brightest (And assholish and Hagakurest) tear one another to bits in their own fucking building... Probably, anyway, they could be some fucking testing facility who killed everybody who entered and paid off fakes for all he knew... kidnap a bunch of famous people instead of grabbing homeless, sure.

Leon began walking down the hall of the second floor... Met with fuck-all nothing to his right, other than pillars for more building. Hifumi was investigating the empty wall, but there was nothing but a bunch of pillars where more building should be. It was technically more building... but this was a goddamn surrealists painting of a building. This couldn't have been the rest of the second floor, but there was only so much room left in the hallway... as he'd walked straight past all the nothing to the end, and surprise, more nothing.

Even if he was in a better mood than before, he was still upset with something as stupid as how the floor plan doesn't make much sense, which was gonna keep him away from doing any investigating like however much time he spent doing nothing in the entrance hall.

Leon opened the door to a classroom at the end of the hall, there was a wall-clock in there, and oh sweet it's been half an hour since he finished his meal, that's probably twenty plus minutes in the entrance hall looking at metal shit without even investigating the room any.

In and out and in and out of awful moods because of fucking everything/nothing, Leon practically dragged himself out of the classroom to another remotely interesting place, as if walking away would turn back time and give him his twenty-two minutes back. Twenty-two minutes all the way back to the other end of the hall, over to the pool area. He probably could've picked a closer room or even checked out that classroom more, but he needed his twenty-two minutes instead of owing up.

"I've been wondering where you are, I haven't see you anywhere despite you being the first to leave the dining hall. I had considered the worst." You mean considered the best, Marieve Herington or whatever your other European stage names are. "Thrown into another class trial before the day even ended... imagine that."

"Yeah, I bet you'd like to imagine that." If Togami had a smugness radiating off of him, she was the entire powerplant, or maybe standing right next to her for a two-hour trial just did him in that badly. "I don't know what game you're playing, but you've definitely got it out for me, pretending you're fine with all this."

"If you really think I'm so untrustworthy, giving away your exact thoughts is the perfect way to be preyed upon, should I decide not to adapt." She leaned forward, like reaching towards an open to turn up the stove to 'boiling Kuwata blood' capacity. "I admit, while there is sparsely anything that phases me, you certainly are one of them. Do not blame me if I decide to act rashly, if not for escape, but to silence a pest."

"Not blame you if you try to kill someone?" He practically had to step back, new most ridiculous downright-harmful to society thinker found, Leon's been pushed down to two, no number one place on a list for him! "Yep, it's not your fault at all when my food is laced with poison and a massive cat shit you put there."

"Is it not your fault for bringing up your apparent distrust as soon as we started our conversation?" Straightening out, the gambler put her hand to her mouth... another one of the weird fucking things she did that turned Leon into a volcano. Everything about her was hot but in a burning-on-a-stove way. "I may not be preaching about co-operation, but I am talking about adjusting so as not to die."

"Oh fuck off-!" Leon cut his own sentence short as he turned around, walking out of the room as his lips fell silent, like he'd left the rest of his conversation with the bitch. Out of the pool area without even looking at the pool, Leon picked out his next destination while being distracted by a nice vegetable dinner he'd like to have and randomly walking in front of the library.

As he opened the door, he was greeted with the backside of a vegetable dinner, some paper in her hand.

"S-So... th-that's just a trap by Monokuma, r-right?" Oh, hi, Toko, how've you been! Hanging out with a vegetable and... Hagakure. "There's n-no way Hope's Peak has been closed for a year, they j-just invited us."

"No, I don't think we can rule it out that it's false yet, even if we should exercise caution as to its validity." Kyoko replied the same emotionless tone she usually had on, if she wasn't subtly telling you you were a massive fool. "Monokuma's been toying with us for all of the time we've been here, it's not entirely impossible this is true, and wants us to solve this mystery as if it would help us escape."

"Hey, what do you make of it, Leon?" Hagakure turned everyone's attention

"You could tell me what it is first, seeing as I just walked into the damn room." Leon glanced to Toko, who's eyes were suddenly on the ground, before turning back to Hagakure. "What is it you're looking at?"

"We found this letter on the desk over there, by that inactive computer. It was already opened, but Byakuya was in here before any of us according to Hiro, so it's possible he read it first." Kyoko handed him the paper... blah blah, Hope's Peak has been shut down, blah blah... bullshit, obviously, Leon smacked away the urge to rip it up for thinking anybody would fall for this bullshit.

"This is totally fake, there's no way anyone would believe this." Leon looked around the room again... Toko was still looking at the ground, Hiro was thinking and the steamy vegetable stew was staring him dead in the eyes. "Seriously? Hope's Peak shut down? And where the hell did you get the 'year'?"

"The dust on the same desk. I suppose I could be wrong, but any eye with enough care can identify that there was plenty of dust present, and the letter's envelope cut a perfect hole in it." Wow, telling how old something is from dust, that's reliable. "Regardless of what conclusion we come to, there is margin for error regardless, so I'd keep it in your minds as we discover any new information we can."

"Alright, I'm gonna go search the first floor again, I haven't looked around there any." Hiro left the room, and Toko slid over to the bookshelf behind where he was standing, pulling out books at random. Whatever the hell he had on his face it was offensive. Maybe she still wasn't over whatever she worshiped being theoretically offended?

As Toko did... that... Kyoko walked to a door on the left wall, opening up to some room with more books and shit, leaving him alone with the even weirder than normal Toko...

...Who was now alone.

Leon followed Hiro out of the library. He had no idea where the giant dumbass went, as the less-giant more-dumbass caught his attention instead, yelling at Hifumi about something in the distance. His ears weren't exactly ultimate after Coach Nekomaru gave him hearing damage, but that was like, a year or two ago, and Kiyotaka was Kiyotaka, it was a miracle Leon couldn't hear everything he was saying.

He made out "wasting time", "undesirable conduct", and something about Hiro, before marching off to go yell at Sakura for being too tall or Hina for being too considerate, or whatever weird rules he had buried so far in his A-Triple Plus in every single class booty that he could taste them.

"The hell was that about?" Curiosity killed the Naegi, satisfaction killed the Maizono, and the lazy dumbass had shitty ears, walking up to Hifumi, wondering what he was being yelled at for.

"I believe Mr. Ishimaru is a little off at the moment, I'm unsure of why, though..." He's always off, guy runs on a one-track mind with the thought everyone else is on the same track veering off the road. "I believe he had an altercation with Mr. Hagakure to cause the issue... or something like that."

"Really? Something actually broke the immovable object that was his rulebook?" It was practically hilarious that something got him worked up... if also kinda sad. "He needs to stop getting so worked up about everything."

"I suppose I can respect what he's doing... but it still cheezes me off anyway!" Hifumi clenched his fist, staring at it like he was gonna light it on fire or whatever his persona did. "He really should learn some basic boundaries, at least, if he wants people to take his advice more readily."

"I'd sooner listen to Mondo than him about... literally anything. His outfit's stupid, but that's really all that's wrong with the guy, even with his volume always on eleven." He was being nice, he could pick apart every piece of corn from Mondo's hair as other reasons he didn't like him, but Leon was practically crushing on the biker when he was put next to Kiyotaka. "Anyway, I'm gonna go check out something else. See ya."

"Alright then, goodbye, Mr. Kuwata." First interaction of the fucking day that didn't go to complete shit, lucky you, Leon! Now just keep that up and you won't be the first suspect by default in every single murder until the end of time purely for suspect behavior.

Leon walked off, even if his own ability to think would stick to him all the way down the stairs. Kiyotaka'd already gone far enough ahead to where he wasn't worried about a sudden lecture, and his head was slightly more clear because random fictional deity who's name he hasn't accidentally said earlier today knows why. The path was clear for him to... do whatever the fuck he was doing now.

The ultimate-up-to-his-silver-dollar-tits-in-his-own-bullshit approached the entrance to the student hotel place or whatever it was called. "Hotel Despair", a great, flashy, true name he completely forgot about in the next second, stopping when he saw two people blocking his way on the other end.

"I... I... It's true. W-We... we killed Makoto. I killed M-M-Makoto!"

"My advice would be not to dwell on it. I'm sure many of us feel similarly, but had we not done what we did, all of us would have died. I voted incorrectly, if you had also, both of us, and everyone else would have died."

Announcing your presence was being a conceited asshole, waiting to be noticed was desperate, and just pushing people aside without saying anything was practically abusive, but from his own limited experience, anyone defining those things was doing one of them, at least, and he was apparently a special kind of asshole. His arm brushed against Chihiro's head as he broke into powerwalk, then basically a sprint back to his room, certainly not sticking around long enough to hear any more out of Super Saiyan Jupiter and Ultimate Ultimate forum's crush.

Normally in situations like this, he just went home and took a nap. Sometimes he'd use that one park bench he met the neon nerd by, and once his desk when he and Kanon were playing some video game until four in the morning and history was covering some stupid American Independence war that nobody cared about if they weren't some super patriot from over there. Whatever it was, naps were the answer. He liked naps, almost anything could be cleared up with a nap. He almost went through the morning without a hitch after he passed out. A nap sounded pretty good about now, and he happened to run right the hell next to his door, thank you, unconscious desire to go nap!

Leon jammed the key into its keyhole, giving it a twist and tearing it away. Such intensity in simple actions, the exact opposite passion of "Sayaka died" or "Makoto died", so simple. Straightforward and easy and irrelevant in the vividness of some dumbass having a bad day.

He was already making light of that, waltzing around the whole building doing some hyper-speed macarena with enough jigawatts of energy to waste all day like a workday for classes he didn't even know he had homework in. He was simplifying and pushing aside... shit that didn't matter to him. He survived, he lived, he wasn't hung up on something that was his fault, or his debt. He didn't know a single person a single thing, pity is what let people prey on kind dumbasses like that psycho-lesbian from last year's history class or the poor red-headed guy without any friends from like, the forced art class from eight years ago, Tenmei Kekyoin. Nice people, even if the psycho-lesbian was a fucking psycho, stupid motherfuckers who pity everyone without any sense in their heads, same kind of disease from the different symptoms the assholes throwing their votes around against his perfect evidence about how he didn't break the door handle.

Celeste was definitely one of them, Kyoko and Makoto were both harping on his ass the entire time... but basically everyone else went into complete chaos at that point. Hifumi definitely didn't vote for himself, Junko was pretty Pro-Makoto, Togami... no, Byakuya, that's what Makoto and Kyoko called him, probably his stupid rich-person first name, bounced the discussion in seven different directions using a racquet made out of his birthright held together with cash, Hina went with whoever was speaking, Toko was probably on his side lucky enough, he obviously voted for Makoto... nobody else participated enough to say anything 'cept maybe Mondo. but he already fucking knew Sakura probably voted for his ass. Lucky him again, if everyone had spoke out...

Leon heard someone else opening a door, and took that moment to finally open his own, crossing over into the safest place he had and shutting it even quicker than it opened. No idea who was also fucking around by the dorms, but he didn't care any, he just wanted to go have a nap or something...

"Knock knock!"

"Motherfuck-" Before his well deserved and understandable annoyance could get out, Leon heard Monokuma appear in the middle of his over the top swearing. "-er. What the hell do you want?"

"Dang, dog, you live like this?" Monokuma looked around the room, in awe at the shitty design choices he made himself. "I was gonna come hang, but I don't think I should... you'd teach me some baaaad habits about cleaning my clothes. Baaaad habits I say, baaaad!"

"What. The hell. Do you want."

"Jeez, rude, I came to talk to you specifically, you know! Do you know how many good lines I had to ditch because you've done the unexpected!" A game-show host with a sneer and a glare, despite the endless praise from viewers and contestants alike, because fuck you all I'm rich and funny. "You're way smarter than I ever gave you credit for, but I suppose as school faculty it's my job to beat down all promising young minds to prevent them from being proud of themselves!"

Ignore him. Fucking ignore him.

"Don't ignore me, don't hecking ignore me!"

Monokuma appeared in front of Leon, who then turned away. Massive fucking garage sale, selling a black and white bear with even more stupid references than his own damn head, with the added ability of teleportation for the low low price of taking his place in this goddamn building full of ultimately worthless rat turds smeared all over old bathroom tile!

"Listen, I know you've reached that moody age, "Darkness, imprisoning me, all that I see, Ultimate Mioda" or whoever your favorite artist is, but you need to talk about what ails you if you wanna get better! Honest, I understand what you're going through, the raw ecstasy after murdering people horribly!"

Never mind, no bear for sale, just sympathies, worthless sympathies he shouldn't even have in the first place. Like feeling bad when a criminal or two gets executed on death row when you only know the name and crimes of the bastards in orange or stripes.

"Now I've got your attention, puhuhuhu..." Monokuma let out a giggle... Or a cackle, whatever the hell you'd call it. Whatever it was, it dragged Leon from his pit of anger and annoyance into curiosity and expectation. Was this it? Would everything be fine?

It was fucking Monokuma, of course not. "So what the hell is it? Speak up!" But he took the bait anyway, like the stupidest fish gazing upon a rod cast with no worm on its' end.

"Well, first off, you're being really rude. I would probably be at the point if you didn't keep being so mean! I can punish you for that, you know, hurting my feelings can be violence if you do it hard enough!" The grinning motherfucker knew exactly what to say, filling the whole room of two with a feeling that made Leon want to laugh. That was a joke, a great one, Monokuma's the first person to come up with a joke that made his face blue from trying not to laugh. "Anyway... congratulations on surviving your first trial, Leon!"

"First... you mean last! I won, d-didn't I? I did exactly what you wanted and survived the trial!" He survived the trial. He... he fucking won the trial. He survived, he wasn't executed. It was just formality to say Makoto did it, whoever got voted for had to die no matter what! "I get to leave, right? Let me the hell out of here, ya stupid bear!"

"Cool your jets, calm your Robertsons, soothe thine caboose, de-stress the mess, pacify that assify!" Monokuma waved around his stubby arms like a baseball fan when Leon bought an overpriced hot dog. "We're not there yet, but yep, you survived! Congratulations, again, you did waaay better than I expected getting away with murder and then framing someone else for your death sentence."

"Forget that, asshole, let me out of here!"

"Alright, alright, jeez, Leon, rob me while you're at it, whydontcha. Soooo, I decided it'd be kinda lame if everyone just... died. Boring, predictable, you can't feel anything out of that. We just end! That's no fun for any of us, so I decided at the end of five class trials, everyone who's still alive gets to escape, as long as there is at least one blackened among them. If not, the game continues until someone else dies. Don't care how, get sick, choke on a lemon, spontaneously combust, if you can find a road-roller you can flatten someone with that."

"You rotting dog carcass filled with sulfuric acid of a goddamn bear, you said if I killed someone and got away with it I would get the hell out of here, and I did both! I'm not sitting here for a goddamn month waiting for everyone else to go have their fucking fun just so I have to sit through four more trials-!"

"Then go kill someone else, speed up the process! Absolutely no harm, whatsoever in killing more people. If you kill more than two people, you will be immediately terminated, there is no punishment-!"

"You've made that fucking joke already, you massive sack of horse-ass and figurative FUCKING BLEEDING CAT-!"

Like clockwork, Leon did something without thinking again. Not thinking about what he was doing, anyway, he was certainly thinking about everything under the bright yellow/orange/green/white/red cunt who's responsible for the solar system's gravity and the air he breathes, but what he was doing was nothing until he'd already done it, but lucky number 18 just tried to kick a bear as figurative as the sack of bloody housepets it was made out of. No chance he was getting the bastard to answer anything else, almost like he actually wanted him to fucking survive.

The baseball player couldn't think any about what he now knew, which was no fucking surprise, just the same inconvenience it always was and always would be, a made-up problem to keep his head away from real problems. Like tests, and kidnapping, and bloody cold murder.

Leon collapsed on his bed, not unlike a relieved criminal free from accusation, even with a ghost in the mirror. At the least helpful time imaginable, his mind was reasonably clear. His own echoing useless irritating drowning in blood. Sickening, glistening, beautiful red liquid squeezed out himself from a popstar, with a generous donation from a bear, on behalf of one Mr. Unfortunate Dumbass.

He had enough blood he could splash his face with it, smear his head with the shit, drink a glass full of it. A nice bright color when you first see it, now a dark red like a wine or a cola. He'd downed a billion colas in his lifetime, probably gonna get another one after this nap, a bleeding can was no different.

That was the exact sort of shit blood was pouring over, sinking it to the bottom of his head. Random dumb bullshit clogging up the blood flow in his head that's been tripled since he got here and octupled he prepared his escape. With plunger assurance to clean up the pipes as the blood got flowing, he was going to get out of here.

But as far as everyone else knew, he did not kill Makoto Naegi, and he did not kill Sayaka Maizono.

~-~-~-~

"I hate to disappoint, but you won't find anything here. I didn't hide goodies EVERYWHERE, you know, that's too unreasonable to expect one bear to do. Maybe if I was a cute lil' bunny rabbit..." As quickly as he'd appeared, Monokuma had soon wrapped himself up in his own thought, paw to his monochrome face with a shade of pondering ruining the otherwise yin-yang of his design. "I wonder what my rabbit name would be. How about... Rebecca! That's a cute name for a cutie like me."

"I already know there's nothing down here. By 'a new world', you meant the second floor." Anyone could've figured that, more room to spread out means more room to kill, more room to kill sows seeds of despair in a field of hope and belief. Junko didn't even need to see the stairs open to piece that together. "You know what I'm here for."

"Yeahhhh... I expected you wouldn't be happy about that, but them's the rules." Monokuma flashed his white side, striking some ridiculous pose as he continued on. "I'm beary tired of pawsing my busy day to talk to you guys, I have kids on the way you know, and a room to build for them!"

"The rules say I should've died, but I'm still standing, I'm still breathing. I've barely had a taste of the failure of despair." All the bear chased was some idea of people giving up, casting aside any norm to pursue any feeling of ecstasy and fulfillment, she could barely imagine what he was planning. "You kept me alive deliberately."

"How do you know I did that? For all you know I only had one set of spears ready, and you happened to get lucky!" Even if he did, there was nothing stopping him from blowing her skyhigh, executing her at the trial, or clawing her apart with those flashy bear paws. "By the way, look out!"

It was natural instinct to hop aside, terror that death was suddenly again imminent and hope that there was any possible escape, but Junko ignored any feeling, if there even was any, and stood in place. Several crashing sounds, one after another, filled her ears from behind, the same sound as when Monokuma tried to stick her like a voodoo doll.

"...It's gonna take a little bit for me to set that back up again, so pretend that never happened, if you would? Think of all I've done for you..." From imprisonment to attempted murder, Monokuma'd certainly given her a lot. "You can grant me that one selfish request at least!"

"It's not often I actually care whatever the hell you do, but you should shut up." It'd been awhile since Junko curled up a fist, it wasn't something the Ultimate Fashionista ever did... but this was a special case. "I'm sure nothing would make you happier than me charging up the floors to wherever you are and-!"

"Wowzers, no need for that! Let's make a deal or something before resorting to violence!" Being the threat or the threatened changed Monokuma's mood severely, mechanical sweat coming down his body. "Do a hundred-mile dash all around the gym, and we can put this behind us. No graduation exam, no killing, just us two pals going for some junk food." He even backed away, as if she could actually manage much of anything against him. "I hope you're not a junkie, I'm not making any back alley detours. I actually already have the corner of a convenience-store reserved for three hours from now, and was wondering if a fine lady like you would care to join me. I know you don't care any about taboo, teacher and student is no worse than-!"

"Just tell me what you want out of me." She was tired of this charade, constant interruption to get a word in, bordering boredom to finding out her own fate. Calculate or just messing around, Monokuma always had to have some explanation ready, even if it were tied to a conversation of cat and mouse. "You want something, I'm positive. It's not pity, it's not affection, and there's no reason you'd be lenient with the rules-!"

"Ahahahahaha..."

Before she could even think about where her words were going, Monokuma suddenly disappeared, and someone else was suddenly behind her, in a teary fit of laughter. Junko turned back to the entrance, meeting him halfway a few paces past the spears lodged in the floor of the building.

"...Why the heck are you cackling like a nutjob?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, let's start out by saying "Hina for being too considerate" was originally "Mondo for being too gay" and I was originally going to have a joke about Leon calling Chihiro the wrong name because he was so messed up he confused Chihiro for Celeste, but the name I was going to use was "Astolfo Felix" which was a giant asspull about two franchises I know nothing about, so I left it to the floor. Maybe I'll use it later if I decide to tackle Chihiro more, I'd like to use everyone... except Sayaka and Makoto, since they're dead. If I started from the very beginning, Sayaka would probably still be alive, I probably would've given Kyoko the boot first like in DISTRUST but not working from the standpoint of "Leon was just attacked", and not having Kyoko to play with (IE: Probably misinterpret horribly because of one part about her character I don't like and have been hung up on since I got into Danganronpa) would probably make the story suffer in the long run, so I guess I picked a fine place to start from.
> 
> Now, writing philosophy and shit. What I've been doing with this story so far was almost exclusively showing Leon's thoughts, his and other people's actions were barely even an afterthought in what you were actually reading. I've intentionally thrown in a lot of out-of-place references in Leon's thoughts and speech, mainly the former, and have him bounce around with various conflicting opinions, even and especially as to his own self-worth which is completely unrelated to the story at all (not to mention not something Leon's character ever deals with, that's Hajime. I have toyed with Hajime/Leon before... still am... for some reason. You don't need to worry about it here, no random Hajime asspull) which is just me toying with the idea of Leon's morality, his attempts to justify his own actions tearing apart his head when added onto the general stress of the situation and Kanon being threatened. I haven't really done enough with Leon's relationship with Kanon, but whatever, there are more pressing things to talk about.  
This chapter in particular, because of how much I jumped around in how I was writing it, the divide between how Leon is feeling or thinking, how stable or off the walls thinking about that anime he watched last week, doesn't differ as much based on what is happening in the moment and just how I felt writing as I was doing this chapter, which is probably something that happens a lot in balancing. This is the first chapter where I've really jumped around a lot while writing, so it's probably most apparent here, but the trial had Leon suddenly go calm for story convenience while everyone suddenly accused him, and then he fell apart as he tore away the opposing argument. I made some dumb excuse as to why that was the case then, but in my efforts to tell the story I have done a poor job of properly handing outside forces impact on Leon's thoughts, to many specific trains of though to in some especially worse cases not even having   
Aside from not doing an amazing job having outside forces act upon Leon, while it may be interesting, it's not fun to read a lot of this stuff. The last chapter was a nice breather of readable content that wasn't all over the side-tracked place, but this one brings back problems in full force. A focus on thought gives a good insight into Leon, at the cost of making things move at a snail's pace, Leon himself has lampshaded the constant repetition in plenty of the things he thinks, a fair bit of it is just re-hashed trains of thought and problem, which isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own but it makes things even more of a chore to get through as a reader. I very much like (Or rather, end up) writing thought rather than action, probably to make up for my constant conflict in writing, as with internal conflict, there is already justification for hypocrisy and contradictions and a bit more room for out of character activity, being a free-er space to work with and all, at the price of usually only being good for character studies, if anything is actually happening, it just creates a giant conflict in what story you're trying to tell and how you're telling it, not to mention a lot of what I'm dealing with goes straight past a bit OOC and is completely irrelevant or removed from the kind of character Leon is.  
Why am I saying this? Thought it would be interesting, really, both for me and you, me to see if I make good on trying to improve this any or if my stance on what I've said changes, you to see some of the thought process behind this like, 5/10 story. Ciao from a conceited asshole, or whatever adjectives you want to describe me with, I wouldn't mind okayish analyst.


	7. Vegetable, Hamburger, Harukawa and Neon Leon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyy.
> 
> So, uh. For all four people who care(d), the long story short is I didn't write it. That's. That's it. Nothing awful happened, I just didn't write a thing. There's absolutely no excuse other than my own fault for why this didn't happen earlier, any problem I could cite is a factor I created myself and only by myself. I delayed this at least 10 times, four of the delays in September alone eventually pushing us to early morning October 1st, and it's bad. I'm going to be frank, this entire work was basically a vent fic by somebody who injects themself into everything they write, like these notes write (haha) now because I can't be brief. It feels dishonest, honestly, to not go on a long, unneeded tangent.
> 
> This chapter is waaaay different from previous ones, and probably won't be the only one of its kind. It's filler, frankly. It was supposed to be, like, 15,000 words long, but I cut out the end of the chapter simply because the beginning and ends (I don't write in the order you read the text in) I had at that point were so wordy and long if the rest of the chapter, or the story as a whole, continued that trend we'd be here until 2025 at the earliest. From there I ended up cutting half of the text from the entire second half of this chapter anyway, so there's a clear divide between what I wrote four months ago compared to this morning, or whenever I wrote it. When I had to push back from May to June, after delaying a bunch of other things from February, March and April I had planned, I decided to re-read the whole story up til this point to get an idea how to improve and what I should do... I couldn't even make it halfway through the first chapter, and that killed any drive I had for working and is the main cause of the horror story that will probably be this chapter. I had to cut... a lot. I'm not made for writing a story with more than one character, I write people's thoughts, and I don't even get across the feeling I write down the exact words as an "alternate way" of doing it, writing Danganronpa always turns out a total mess.
> 
> That said, I'm not at all cancelling this yet. So long as I'm able I'm going to try and get this back on track, with school starting for me again (online... which I've done since 6th grade so it's nothing new) I've been stimulated to actually work which did wonders, at the expense of less time to work. I still hate near everything about this, but as you might have realized I'm just a whiny bastard who probably wrote this story specifically so people would listen to this drivel. Subconsciously, you're probably right, but in the conscious mind I just thought I could do something cool with Leon. Maybe this chapter is something cool with Leon.
> 
> Inspiration was pulled from all over, I went through several periods of listening to music, but Your Turn To Die and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure also deserve a mention. None of it blends well, but at least Leon should be musically versed. If this chapter has a mistake or nine, I barely proofread it. Fixes will come tomorrow.

When Leon woke up, he was in a classroom.

As anyone would, a relatively-brief-for-his-panicking-standards panic occurred as soon as he woke up in some random, unfamiliar place, but with panic flooding his head also came trying to fit things in his narrow view of the world that only worked for him, so the dumbass of the "waking" world declared he was in a dream.

Even when he spoke out, screaming that this so-obviously-a-dream dream was so-obviously a dream, his nonsense didn't hit any ears. For one, this was a goddamn dream, and for two, nobody else was around. He was sitting all lonely by himself in a classroom, littered with empty desks and empty chairs, a clear blackboard, an old wall clock he couldn't read worth a damn, and a set of giant wooden doors. Not a perfect match for any schools he'd spent his life up 'til now in, but it was close enough to feel familiar. The only part of this room out of place was the barf-green shade for the walls, which the definitely fake Hope's Peak he was stuck in in the read world also had.

That said, this definitely wasn't real-fake Hope's Peak either, Leon didn't see a certain damn Mr. Himself Kuwata shoved under the teacher's desk, also shoved under Hina, and the room felt bigger than any classroom he got the chance to check out. Why couldn't this fuckin dream be his reality? Here he woke up all tucked in on the desk in what felt like a bigger space than the bear would ever offer him and the others, but nope, his reality was the goddamn confinement of metal plates in a building he was already so sick of he'd kill for a scenery change, not to mention Kanon, and his own life.

...Wondering about the room's size, Leon realized something else was off, somewhat related to the room's size if you wanted to get into the physics. It was pretty dark for a classroom, like... REALLY dark, he wouldn't have any problems with reading a clock otherwise. It was almost as unnerving as the lack of other people, with Leon being the only person in the room, please don't be a fucking jinx. He was all alone in a darkened classroom without a flipped light switch or open curtains, or any actually good students and teachers who came to class before him, not even an Ultimate Swimmer who's ass was pressed up square against his backside as his tongue almost touched the dirty wooden floor while he scrambled to get up. Of course, this was a dream, so the lack of other people was an acceptable level of weird, but why it was so goddamn dark was a little extra suspicious.

He wasn't a poet, so he didn't know exactly how to say it... all he did was throw shit, run around, complain about doing those things, and take naps in the afternoon at like 3 or 14 or whatever time measuring shit the clock was running on. That's probably not how the 12-hour clock even aligns, but he had no better way to say it, whatever time the clock said. Fuggen whatever get back to what's on the Leon-themed agenda for this paragraph of thinking, he wasn't a poet, but being in this type of classroom was tripping once, then falling down the rest of the stairs before he even GOT to the stairs. Some eloquent bullshit like that, Toko could probably put it better if she didn't turn it into a twelve page paranoia-fueled essay about how Savage Garden broke up because Daniel accidentally found out about then called off a worldwide-government experiment where they blew away half the planet with meteors. Some sorta crazy shit like that was a good comparison, actually, being dark and alone in school was just as weird as the meteor fuckzone.

Welllll... not exactly, it was close enough to falling down the stairs, in the hotdog next to the ballpark so you can get it back easily but somebody's day was still ruined and your ball's covered in ketchup and your stair analogy is close enough to sit on and contemplate your day but something's still off. It was exactly as weird as somehow hitting that hotdog head on but not "Oh he got an A while Tenmei over there flunked the whole class" weird, the hotdog was a "Huh, I knew that question, when the fuck did we learn this?" flavor question of weird. Yeah, he couldn't see worth a chocolate-coated bunnygirl damn, but it's not like he didn't sit in this kind of low lighting at home half of the time, just never at the wondrous learning palace of school. A room full of desks with a blackboard was meant to be full of asshats and people who needed money to pay for therapy, at some points of the day there had to be nobody in the room, but he never thought about it until now, when faced with exactly that scenario to the tip of the sausage wiener.

Leon stood up and turned towards the windows, assuming the dream wasn't about to toss a curveball as fast as a jet his way, he'd be able to see what time of day he was inside by getting some damn light in the room. Since he knew he was asleep, it was probably gonna turn into a lucent dream... lucant? Ludand? A dream he could do whatever he wanted in, where the time didn't matter any. Before the ludand dream, it'd probably be in the middle of the day like school normally was...

...That was as much as Leon could consider before he stood up, and even all of that minimal information was rendered worthless by the fact the windows had no curtains. Jumping to conclusions, he assumed there WOULD be curtains, making a plastic-or-fabric barrier to separate him from the knowledge of what time it was, but nope, no curtains. No fucking curtains! It was just dark! Yeah, the lights were also off, but if the curtains were open, not to mention actually there (but still open), it should be brighter out, but the mask dealer "watching over" the town's children had his fat-ass in the way of the sun today so today was actually tonight and Leon was staring outside. At night.

Tangled in confusion and disbelief, Leon took a step towards the window to get a better view of the outside world. It was as weird as the classroom he was in, being... also pretty dark, which wasn't strange since it was night, and being pretty trashed, which was slightly more strange seeing as there was a big different between dirty streets and the aftermath of a riot with the people suddenly abducted halfway through the event. If dreams were supposed to have random meanings, then this one was probably a metaphor for how certain walking techniques were as cool as a closed school, while some ruined streets and brought down civilizations, because it wasn't a trivial stupid matter and that pink-haired dickbutt was wrong. Seeing as Leon was inside, he was the cool one, and his inferior walking foe was somewhere outside.

That... that's it. That's all he could get out of this. Dream over? Can we go bowling or have a dream about dreams or something? Can the goddess of light smack her green ballsack across his face to knock him into a new dream of a flower-field full of horses with human heads? At least let the sun start fucking rising, stupid fucking brain-!

-Ask and you shall receive, just work properly more often and you'll get off easy, pink blob of thinky-goop. Whether Leon and his brain did that or it just naturally started getting light out from the basic passage of time, who fucking knows, but it was just about to get bright, and he still saw no signs of people. Not even a hint from any kids in school who cared, up bright and early and ready to learn the lessons Osiris wanted to teach him about mortality and how there probably wasn't an afterlife of paradise waiting for people like Sayaka or Makoto because you could consider them sinners or maybe he should stop eating meat or whatever the hell Osiris even stood for. Leon remembered like, two Egyptian gods.

Two Egyptian gods, and neither of the ones he knew stood for the sun rising, both of them were just different gods of the afterlife and death. Leon would wonder why he was getting all philosophical in linking this dream to deities, but the wheel of fortune didn't spin randomly in that direction, the category today was "Look forward and down slightly at the giant spray-painted creepy red thing, dumbass" and instead of spinning at all he solved the puzzle and glanced down, a quick glare becoming staring off into fucking space praying baseball was illegal tomorrow. The sun of this sleepy-in-his-head world rose up to illuminate him of the fact several other, less-meaningful blobs and blotches of dark red shit were all over his brain-made sidewalks and streets, also coating the buildings in a nice shade that really popped.

That all would have been hard to see in the dark, all that... probable dried blood,

Leon turned away from the window and prepared to leave. Like. The dream, if not the killing school life and reality. Enough real-not-real fction, god dammit, wake up you stupid set of naturally occurring wires that when combined make up a multi-celled organism that can formulate chains of logic but not always because it can't actively control itself at all times, **MOVE**. Walk to the door, open it! and on the other side it's either heaven or hell, and hell's at least a school of despair and not the most nonsensical dream he's had in at least four days-!

A sudden groan escaped Leon's lips, as nearly did his thinky-thinky consciousness. Running straight over to open the door, which opened its-duck-duck-goosing-self on his head as he reached for the handle, was a decision made with logic that bit him in the ass harder than Kanon did in her creepy fantasies. There was a lesson his gradeschool teachers could probably tell him about that he could then spout to his cousin to sound all smart like he came up with it himself, but he'd screw it up so he'd turn it from "It's okay to make mistakes, but it's not okay to sit down and do nothing" to "It's okay to eat all the snacks if you run around in the park for three hours after" and then he'd stand on little Kanon's shoulders to grab something from the top shelf before pretending they were walking around all day so they couldn't have stolen the food so the adults all blame each other and they reap the rewards!

Sudden memories of that one specific day from his youth quickly bounced him back to thinking about his school life. Both the boring but at least consistent enough to be easy life and the short but sour and sucky shithole of a killing game life. Both could suddenly infuriate him to the point he switched how the images and words in his head felt even though they were less tangible than his innocence. The amount of words flowing into his head for something so simple as this dream reminded him a lot more of the later, but not getting anything done was just like school and homework, and the general deep thoughts he couldn't handle.

Leon pulled himself up off the floor, coming to his senses to hear somebody yelling at him, answering the matter of how the door opened before he touched it. If only this new, stunning revelation told him how to achieve salvation for his sins and learn the drive needed to make Monokuma go cuckoo so he blows himself up to open a clear path for the 13 of people left to do the hustle out to the real world of fresh air and yellow fashion statements, rather than answering a stupid question from a shitty, pointless dream.

"-Hey! You're conscious now, r-right?! Answer me, dammit! Are you deaf or something-?"

"Oh, shut up! You just hit me with a door. If I'm deaf, you're a blind-!" His blurry vision and door-shaped pains just faded away for Leon to immediately praying for it to come back. The grass was always greener where he wasn't, because wherever he was a dumbass was soon to make everything worse, two piles of shit for the uselessness of nine. "-No wonder why you can't see anything, you're the kind of stuck-up asshole who looks in the mirror every five seconds."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" After slamming somebody with a door, you'd usually do everything possible to be nice to them, but Leon's dice rolled a specific bastard who acted like he was the center of the universe as soon as reality stopped blowing him off. "...Wh-What the hell IS that supposed to mean...?"

"It means you think you're attractive when all your looks are good for is warning ships that they're almost at land." Leon snapped back, ignoring this guy's confusion or now-lack of hostility, ranting everything possible to re-activate his bark and bite. "I'm not surprised you don't get it, you're fortunate you've figured out how to breathe without thinking about it."

"A-And... And-!" Leon wasn't expecting anything more than a shitty counter-insult, but he was let down even there with this incompetent jackass backing out from even mild sadistic entertainment. "-You're a... uh... shit..."

"Oh, suck it up. I don't even care any more, just be quiet." Leon turned back around to get him to shut his stuttering under his breath, but he was the one who fell silent as he remembered who he was staring at. By the look of it, the other guy did too, being the one who dropped from an elevator shaft onto the silence.

"-You're that guy from the park I got into a fight with!" Neon Leon over here finished the original's sentence, cementing such a comparison with as random a moment of genius as the wonders of staying calm when Kyoko and Relestiol Gudentag were trying to fry him up with cold gazes that came with a side of red hot chili peppers. "...What was your name again? It was something stupid like Kazuo, right?"

"Leon, and for the record you lost that "fight" which wasn't even real! If you want something more than a power-walking contest I'll be happy to show you how far my arms can go up your ass!" He really was the stupidest fucking person alive thinking that Monokuma and murder were the worst shit he'd have to go through, the world's hateful torturous new game starring him as the contestant brought him to Round 3 of 8, Round 7 was the task of trying to calm down and be rational in the face of knowing mister pink dye-job, yellow jumper, cragged teeth, insufferable personality and an aura that made you name gods from media you haven't even consumed in hopes one of them comes back to smite you just so you can escape the current hellzone of this conceited, 92% smelly ass.

"That's kinda cool, actually..." Unbearable prick trailed off again, unable to finish even his sentences much less the development cycle to get a real brain. "W-Wait, no it isn't! That's... that's fitting for a jerk like you!"

"And what was your name again, Soda Popinski or something else that tries to grab attention from everybody in a hundred-meter radius?" Leon stretched what he could remember from 2/10 in the beanie's name as far as he could, making stretches was a detective classic, taught to him by the deceptive mastermind of vegetable fucking stew. "Hold on, I got it. Kugie Kizuchi, because you're as stupid as that girl was obsessive and horrifying-!"

"It's K-Kizuchi, I mean, Kazuichi! Kazuichi Soda!" Again, the bravest man alive defended his title in a way other than wearing all highlighter colors, trying to act tough against someone ready to become a murderer as evil as the killer of Sayaka Maizono. "And don't you forget it!"

"And what are you going to do to me if I don't? Fantasize about my gruesome death and the sudden end and pointlessness of life-"

"-Shut up, shut, SHUT UP! Why the fuck are we even arguing?!" Kazuichi commanded, suddenly growing a four-pack of testicles which made Leon realize he didn't have any. Good work, Leon, A fucking plus job being a dick to another person and wasting every bit of energy you haven't used up sweating crystal-clear sparkling 100% natural untouched-by-man bullets on acting like a goddamn maniac! You're the bad guy, obviously, you don't get to fucking be angry for getting slammed by a door and treated like shit for it, that's a privilege only reserved for people who went to baseball practice and not people struggling with the whole fucking world! "We have more important shit to worry about!"

"Like what? Are you taking me to the mall for a makeover because I don't look enough like a fruit smoothie?" Leon almost laughed, he believed what he was hearing as much as Kyoko was right, and vegetables were as right as tomatoes were vegetables, especially the pretentious, pretty purple ones with fucking twelve rapid-fire mechanically modified and attached dicks all ready to blow him down to white shattered bone.

"This isn't the time to joke around, and for your information I only dye my hair because nobody would recognize me if I didn't!" Oh, yes, your appearance IS for attention. Congratulations, you made it every website listing fashion fuck-ups, natural disasters and man-made calamities. "Do you have a weapon or something?"

"What, am I an ax-murderer? No, I don't have a fucking weapon!" Leon's common sense and basic formalities were cranked from negative five to negative twelve —with an additional six minus on top figure it out yourself math wizards if he ever remembers to bring this up to them once he's awake— Kazuichi wanted to make a fucking foolishly foolish and enraged fool out of him, who was exactly one part of that and it was the fool part, Leon tried picturing pouring water on his face, which just reminded him of baseball. Well, it redirected his fucking anger from Kazu Kazu to Baseball Baseball!

"Alright... in that case, we should probably be quick." Kazuichi ignored him and his unshared thoughts of bashing his head in, turning back to the door. "Looking for a clock's gonna have to wait until tomorrow, I guess, if you can't defend yourself I can't leave you out here."

"Defend myself from what? The end of the world? Did Kanon go insane and start killing off everybody so she could have me to herself?" His mind pulled that mastermind theory out from the pile of shit he forgot about and didn't constantly come back to, gotta circulate the rarer tapes otherwise the whole mind-factory will pass the test of being a functioning, focused brain and we aren't allowed to have those under the Kuwata name.

"I mean... m-maybe? Who knows! How crazy is "Kanon" exactly? Strawberry blonde drop-dead beautiful crazy or just ride-a-motorcycle-without-a-hemlet crazy?" Kazuichi slouched a bit, making it more apparent he was looking up at Leon while waiting for his answer, hopefully served up beautifully with a cherry.

"Somewhere in-between, probably." Whether staying civil was a cherry or just the standard meal from Leon was an answer neither of them knew. Hopefully this was acceptable so they'd have less talking and arguing to do, they being both Leon & Kazuichi and Leon & Leon again. "She can be pretty wack sometimes, and obviously we can't be together, but she's a good friend and my family."

"Is... is being family why you can't be together?" Kazuichi's tone somehow got a pitch higher, and from what he knew about him, Leon guessed what was coming next all the way back in the past before he even met him the first time, that was how easily he was read like idol porn. "Is she cute and that's why you even had to say that? Or is she the one who likes you?"

"Stay the hell away from her." Leon demanded, it was a mildly choke-worthy thought but he dreamed up about worse on a weekly basis, there was another issue there, in the small little slice of goodwill the baseball bitch had left in him. "And not because you aren't free to try, she'll probably throw a punch that knocks out your perfect shark teeth. The wack part is that she's interested in me, and in ONLY me. She's probably gotten asked out ten, twelve times, all by different guys, but following me around town when we basically live together already is how she wants to spend her time."

"Wow... that's... rough, I guess?" Kazuichi shrugged. Clearly, a master of communication, and somebody Leon felt immensely horrible for ever feeling bad about. He should be publicly tortured and executed in front of children to teach them about real evil just to show them who to watch out for, anybody insulting Kazuichi Middle-name Soda was an international terrorist.

"Oh, thanks. Jerk." Leon half-assed any attempt at muttering that last word, putting most of his many gears and pistons towards operating the walk-away machine. He passed Kazuichi and stood outside the classroom before he realized just what the walk-away machine was making him do, fucking goddamn idiot it makes you walk away how did you not realize this sooner. "

"I was about to ask that." Kazuichi replied with a certain slimy and annoying tone that reminded Leon of all the reason to want to beat him down. "Unless you have a place of your own, I assumed you were coming with me."

"Why would I do that?"

"...Uh... the end of the world?"

"Okay. Sure, sure!" Leon reminded himself what this was, which was a dream, and what this wasn't, which was not a dream, and accepted wherever his minds' flow wanted him to go. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Alright, NOW you're enthusiastic. I should start bringing up that I'm prepared for the end of the world first next time..." Kazuichi said with a hint of earnesty, but not enough to make Leon think he wasn't talking about killing people. "...Wait, are you mocking me?"

"Nope, not at all!" Leon called out, already twelve crackers and a wiener down the hallway, give or take the length of the patience of somebody smart enough to know what measuring system that is! "Come on!"

"H-Hey, wait up! I need to go first-!"

~-~-~-~

Several minutes of interactions Leon paid no attention to came and went, waiting for his mind to decide when the weird part would happen. End of the world, the return of the brightest annoyance and dried blood everywhere —hopefully it was blood since he was stepping on it—, it all fit together too sensibly. When he gets catfished on a popular forum and happens to stumble on the greatest porn ever while drowning in his bullcock-brain full of emotions or some other incredibly specific, killing-video game level scene then that's when the blanks are filled in. This was not that. It was just walking out of a school with Kazuichi Soda.

Leon kept smiling, letting Kazuichi start going off about how he was looking for clocks. There was one in the room Leon woke up in, which would be the perfect thing to bring up and waste more time. Was that the test? Bring up the clock and be a better person, then you get to the dreamland of fluffy clouds, large jolly penguins and a sea of orange juice? Answers, please, goddammit.

Kazuichi suddenly stopped walking, Leon looked over at him and he was completely frozen. "Oh... god. Don't look at that bench-" He even stopped talking for a moment, before everything packed in his in stupid jumper and beanie went to 200% panic. "S-SERIOUSLY, DON'T LOOK!"

"The more you say that, the more likely somebody's gonna look." Leon groaned. There's no fucking way Kazuichi didn't even understand that basic priniciple of reality, but he WAS Kazuichi, so there wasn't any actual certainy there and it was a lie produced from the heavenly recesses of a place better than somewhere where Kazuichi wa... wah...

"Exactly, that's what I just realized! Don't look at the bench-!"

"-Too late." Leon didn't realize he left his mouth hanging open after uttering two words.

"That... that wasn't there the last time I went this way." Kazuichi looked ready to curl up into a ball and cower, but he continued staring at the mangled pile of fleshy, gooey, disgusting meat leaking off of a bench onto the equally filthy streets. Leon shifted his eyes to Kazuichi's expression, trying to get away from... THAT... but Kazuichi's stupid face painted the picture just as well. Somebody like Kazuichi couldn't not horrified, but he was not surprised. Not being surprised by a spectacular show of blood was one thing, seeing it on somebody else's face was different. Sticking a blade somewhere or watching somebody take a plummet was nothing to see and shrug at, but you didn't realize you were doing it until somebody else was doing the same. "And, I went this way like... yesterday..."

"...How often do you have to see this sort of thing for it to be unsurprising?"

"Like... all the time?" Kazuichi paused, moving away from the flat expression of unsurprise to thinking. "Specifically... I guess three and a half times a week... or, like every other day. Yeah, just every other day."

Leon wanted to say something that would hurt his feelings. A lot of things, actually, a dicklong list of supreme sandwich shut-the-fuck-up phrases served with insult, salad and breadsticks, a completely free meal if it's your first time seeing somebody else's reaction to a corpse.

No, not reaction, understanding. Leon saw plenty of reactions to corpses, but with him thinking about words came him thinking of the wrong words. There were quite a lot of reasons for that, dontcha know, many of them pointing a pile of his stupid, bony fingers back at him.

"...I think they were just a kid, from the size."

"Why the hell are you telling me that, aren't I supposed to not be looking at that fucking thing at all!?" Leon tried to stay turned away, but he was back to being locked on looking at the Kazu Kazu's who latest great achievements consist of, , and most importantly, .

"Wh-What?! There's no point in trying to save you NOW, you already saw it!" Kazuichi argued, throwing his fists up, already past the corpse in everywhere from his waggling arms to most-annoying mouth. At least, Leon WANTED to see that, all the better excuse to leave him behind, but his eyes hadn't changed yet. Scary how quickly Leon could tell what dickhead was thinking, just as scary how bad even using "dick" suddenly made him feel. "Wh-whatever! J-just leave it, come on..."

Kazuichi started walking away, head slightly down and mouth very silent. The useless, twisted, pointless drivel Kazuichi supplied Leon with for the past half hour was a euphonic sound Leon would go on about if he was even confident that euphonic was a real word. Instead of saying anything helpful, Leon quietly walked after him. Everything from his talking-device hidden by his lips to every goddamn worthless voice in his head except this one wasn't making a peep, nothing nagging at him to get lazy and overcomplicate to insanity. Just a single string of thought, smushed against the sound of sulking footsteps and what Leon wanted to imagine was depressed breathing.

He was being tore apart worse than what was left of that child by the silence. Leon said the first non-insane thing that came to mind, after a minute of trying to find it. "Are you okay?"

"Wh-what? Yes, yeah... I mean..." Kazuichi went red like a girl who actually had bad enough taste to like either of them being asked out, assuming Kaz was ever in that kind of situation. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I was just askin' you." Just like that, back to silence. Outstanding effort, Leon, you don't even get an A for it. Leon was caught up to walking side-by-side with Kazuichi, but that didn't help him think of what else to say. Again, he said the first thing that didn't make him want to die just thinking to ask. "...What would you be doing if the world wasn't totally trashed?"

"I was planning on going overseas for a vacation when I could, I was gonna visit a few museums and check out a park or two, maybe find somebody else to "walk" against." Kazuichi sighed, with a slight happiness on his face blended with apathy and doomed acceptance.

Taking in that fun fact about Ka, Leon's mind went to his own summer vacations, and he thought of another question. "How've you been, like, passing the time with everything closed and covered in blood?"

"Oh, you know, scavenging for useful stuff, trying to figure out who trust with lives on the line and watching a friend or two show up as a corpse or sing the blues while lighting up little kids tied to a stake on TV." Kazuichi replied dryly. His voice and expression were both as nonchalant as Togami when pigs were flying, but his eyes were Junko or Makoto's, when faced with betrayal and/or almost or actually dying. It was a pair of eyes that represented a lot of things, even Leon probably had them stuck to his head once. "The world just ended, I can't really pull up a mirror and cry like a normally do, I have... like... a lot of other stuff that comes first. Like, a LOT."

"Is your reflection your only friend or do you do your hair while sulking? Wouldn't you just screw it up even more if you aren't focused on it or do you only own a mirror to be weird about it?" Leon didn't EXACTLY mean to take a jab, but with Kazuichi it was so easy that not poking the Bear-Soda would be disgracing delinquents twice as much as he already did. The fuck-up counter could do well without him, and that's the exact opposite of what the counter wants.

Kazuichi threw his against Leon's chest, which was well deserved, but still hurt like a bitch, less physically and more in his baseball-wired-insides. "Be quiet!"

"What, it was just a joke!" That didn't mean he wasn't going to defend the base, but "I thought we were-"

"No, not that, look!" Kazuichi whined, which would've made him look pathetic if Leon wasn't already looking like a dumbass for misunderstanding. The wonderful world of being a moron knew no bounds, and yes, he was talking about himself for once instead of being the world's biggest dickass since the Sendai Serial Killer who stole hands. Kaz's attention was on a large man standing against the wall. "H-Hey, you! What the heck are you doing out here?"

"Taking a walk." Leon suddenly froze, sub-zero in the range of the big, bad monster man's threatening voice. Deeper than Sakura's, as intense as Junko's and exactly the animosity Redesnia Yubenlurg would grace you with if she wasn't getting a foot massage and a string of wordy complements at the same time you were talking to her. That enough could freeze anybody, but Leon doubled his frosty order as the voice was familiar as well as scary. "Can I help you?"

"Hey, I know you!" Unlike good ol' Kaz, who he must've repressed for being traumatizing-as-in-annoying to know existed, Leon immediately recognized who this was. Sort of. Hell if he could remember most of the people in his schools, but there was no mistaking such a deep voice and figure. "You're... Q-Taro, right?"

"Gimme a break..." Q-Taro Hamburger, the ladies' favorite back in middle school. Around 7th he had a sudden growth spurt, and started wearing a stupid-ass hat that couldn't even beat Kazuichi's style. Of course, Hamburger—and probably Q-Taro for that matter—wasn't his real name, nothing real could come close to the puzzles Leon assembled that formulated the greatest names like Celestia Ludenburg. Q-Taro's actual last name was... Kira, something short with a K. "What are you doing out alone? The other guy definitely can't handle a fight by himself and you don't look like a good enough bodyguard."

"I was kind of trying to build something, I needed a some parts from a clock to finish it, but I ended up finding a person instead, so now, we're... uh... just walking, I guess." Kazuichi rubbed the back of his head as he smiled at giving the greatest answer of all time, or whatever mechanisms in his mechanic-minded head were telling him, people work differently that's why they're fucking people. Right after, his gears seemed to shift to anger-and-realization-and-lets-not-be-cautious, "Hey, I asked you first! What are you doing outside? It's not safe!"

"He already answered that, dummy" The amount of care that went into choosing a less-demeaning insult was as much as he put into most other things on a normal, calm day. That was to say it was entirely unconscious a decision Leon didn't even notice, not with the other words suffocating both those words and these to the bottom of the sauna. He paused for a moment to wonder what sounded weird, and couldn't draw the conclusion, no point in keeping the crazy train parked because he made a verbal mistake he didn't even know like the thousands of mental ones he unfortu-damn-nately did. "He's taking a walk."

"Same as you, apparently. You should get inside soon." The large man, again, suggested they go indoors. "I'm pretty sure they're roaming around here."

"Wh-what, really?! We gotta get back, now-!" Kazuichi turned around, before completing the 360 in panic and looking over at Q-Taro. "-You gotta come too, i-it's not safe out here! Oh my god, this explains the new body, and-!"

"I can handle myself, you two can't. Just shut up and go inside, and stop being so damn annoying about it." He started walking over to them, giving Leon the same, giant-caused fear that came whenever Nekomaru approached him for a training session. "Did you hear me? Go home."

"U-Uh-!" Kazuichi was reduced to a quivering mess, and Leon himself could barely look over to notice that he wasn't directly looking at Q-Taro. "B-B-BEHIND YOU!"

Kazuichi's wail turned the other's attention to a sudden crowd. Well, crowd was generous, but eight or nine people, kids, they looked like, all wearing Monokuma-shaped masks and holding metal pipes or clubs. Just... just a few kids? Well, Kazuichi's standards had to be low somewhere, and he was the jumpy time... calmly looking at a crushed little kid's innards being the big exception.

"Good grief, they're already here." Q-Taro remained calm and unconfused, turning around to shield the uncalm Kaz and the confused other guy. You two run away, I'll deal with them. The musician should be here any moment."

"Musician?" Leon almost laughed, the end times took a turn into an unbelievable dream with floating pigs and candy oceans territory. "You mean me-?"

Above the kids' heads was a sudden, raging flame, illuminating the dark right behind them to show a figure Leon would usually be excited for, especially when dressed in all black, but the gas mask and flaming guitar drove him off. That. That was the musician, probably, with her own messy, burnt hair flowing down beside a smaller, sleek figure... nothing more terrifying than a cute girl trying to kill you, Sayaka already taught him that lesson. Leon certainly wasn't excited now, just understanding, and back to horrified.

Without a word, Leon suddenly felt his arm get grabbed, jumping up before realizing it was the grab of Kazuichi's soft, weird hands. Leon spent a moment to get over the hands and started yelling for some reason he didn't even get.

"What the hell are you doing? We can't just leave! How the hell is he supposed to survive a flamethrower?!" Leon prepared to turn around, but his "friend" started spitting out some fake justification first.

"H-He'll be fine, you and I need to run while we can!" Kazuichi spouted his nonsense reasons for being a coward. "We don't stand a chance against them! He can at least kill them by falling over!" Kazuichi snatched away Leon again and started running, running away from the sudden scene that had just entered.

Leon hadn't even looked at Q-Taro or the kids or little miss flame-carrying musician since when Kazuichi first pulled him away, but the dead silence reminded him more of black death than it did memories and thoughts flowing out of the front of his mind. Leon wanted to pull away again, but Kaz's grip was firm and his mind was set on dragging Leon out of danger.

Two turns of more silence from however far away Q-Taro was now, Kazuichi stopped running, coming to a slow halt and letting go, walking forward a few paces before turning around and looking ready to collapse, falling down like everything Leon ever built up in his head or with his hands.

Leon himself couldn't do anything else but breathe in and out like he just had to actually practice, scorning the other player he was facing at the time. Being so concerned about one lost life, yet leaving good Q-Taro to fend for himself. Perfect, unbiased, sincere logic in the mind of a selfish bastard, who's eyes probably looked just like Leon's now. Leon could've stayed behind, tried to smash a kid open and get burned alive by that stupid-sexy musician, but Kazuichi dragged him away, and he didn't pull away to stop it.

For all of the thinking Leon usually did, the most important parts were always the shortest thoughts, unclouded by mounds of bullshit. Thanks, athletic genes and training, for only letting him deduce that before getting tired from just a bit of running again. Simplest and shortest thoughts had the same chances of being remembered as every other more pointless thing about sports and other shit.

"W-We should probably be heading back." To think, minutes ago Leon would've considered punching Kazuichi in the face for even saying that, but being suddenly more tolerable, the chances of any suggestion he had being a good idea skyrocketed into the sky, back around and straight up his pussy. Whatever the hell it was that cooled him off when he suddenly also facing the end of the world was a damn wonder, alright. "To my place, I-I mean. Well, not MY place my place, but where a bunch of non-crazy still-living people are hiding out for now. It's basically my place, since I run everything, but-"

"Yeah, your place. Sure." STILL, for being surprisingly decent this entire time, Kazuichi was putting himself as high as Makoto on a pedestal, and unlike Makoto there were no signs of him smashing down and facing the consequences. Leon was about to call him out on it as much as he called himself out for problems he couldn't fix like using random fake words like "Naga" or "reasonable" or exploding into an uncontrolled rush of thoughts when anything triggered an emotion or memory, like what just made a clean cut in his calm before pushing it over into a thousand pieces, bringing on a barrel full of new shards, containing a lot of old emotions and memories. "-I know this street! I don't live far from here, I get haircuts at that place like once a month!" Seeing a disgusting, ruined world was one thing, but seeing something familiar in the same conditions was three more steps up the panic ladder, which was more than good enough to pass the threshold of calm to his usual state of uncontrolled-fucking-insanity that started when Monokuma said "Kill each other".

"Well, you can't really do that anymore since the world's ended." Kazuichi gestured to the window, coated in grime and dried smears from whatever you could cut open on a person. "I get it, but... like, we need to get to safety-"

"I'm going inside." Leon passed Kazuichi, like his superior movement techniques always did, and stepped forward with the same sudden confidence he usually lacked. That's how mental states worked, as albums with needless filler and the inability to be concise or consistent, mixing with what little important shit there was in a massive whirlpool of forgotten ideas and inane mentalities. Leon felt like his vocabulary had gotten bigger since he woke up in the dead world, but he still had no words to say why he was opening the door.

"H-Hey, dude, LEON-!"

Leon was already shutting the door behind him, cutting off the now-soothing sound of a friend. If Kaz was so worried, he would come drag him out like he dragged him away from Q-Taro, and if he was worried he could run anyway, Leon was out of his hands now. Leon didn't care about what Kazuichi decided to do from there, like the meaning of "inane", who fucking knows if he got the definition to that right or made the right call coming in here all alone, but turning back wasn't an option. You couldn't turn back the gushing from a stabbed tomato, and you may as well couldn't turn around and confess to all of your damn faults. The world was too imperfect for turning around and saying your sins.

At least, the world as it currently was, where everything was suddenly blackened dark and spotless light. Last week was the history class he didn't remember and all except for America's unimportant "revolution" and King Henry VIII or whatever other two subjects. This fine school year, history class was just Kanon, Kazuichi and unpleasant memories of baseball to him until right now. The crazy world he was living in, replaced with another one designed specifically for squeezing fresh ass-juice out of his broken skull, since the brain in there was good for being the rarest specimen ever, sealed away in a museum full of the other greatest items in history with one purpose and his brain's was thinking up this stupid fucking museum.

Leon saw somebody kneeling above the ground, a slim figure with long hair he could never forget. Half the reason he went to get his hair done so often was the woman doing it. She might be a moody, cold, mean, distant and sometimes violent bitch if you wanted to look at it like that, but always facing a mirror with her right behind him with a pair of very long and sharp scissors gave him a different, nicer opinion. She had a smile as warming as Kanon's, a face as pretty as a vegetable but without the life-or-death drawbacks, and the whole package was wrapped in soft-spots for close friends. Leon wasn't one of those friends, but he saw them come in all the time, and those angels above blessed him with hearing her suddenly drop her walls, leaving everyone in the building astonished she cared about someone else's day enough to ask.

"H-Hey, dude, Maki-!"

She stood up slowly, still obscured by the dark, and still not breaking Leon's familiar calm. "What are you doing here?" Maki took a step forward, letting her eyes shine a bright, killing crimson.

"I don't know, I was just looking around." Leon somehow fell an extra level into the pit of awkwardness that usually came when you talked to girls, whether you were into them or not. "The world ended when I woke up an hour ago, how am I supposed to know how to answer that?"

His hairdresser's red eyes glowed in the dark, hightlighted extra by her usual mild annoyance. "...You're still an idiot, you don't understand anything."

"I'm not here to get my hair done or lecture you about smiling more, calm down. Are you alright?" Leon couldn't help but be his non-end-of-the-world-and-freedom self a bit, but he asked if she was okay, at least. That counted in his own books for a point on a system he was betting he would forget, along with the bet itself.

"Take a guess." Maki muttered, getting closer. Leon sensed a bit more anger than usual, and normally, that was his cue to leave. As such, Leon made the smart decision for maybe the 9th time since he entered Hope's Peak Academy and took a step back. "Well?"

"Something's wrong?"

"Good job."

Leon was about to congratulate himself, before something occurred to him. This was all insane. All stupid, complete and utter nonsense, total bullshit, crazy stupid insanity.

Adding onto that, Maki reinforced her walls to choke somebody whenever they talked to her and she started choking them out, slamming him down and wrapping her deadly hands around his neck. It was quick, and Leon had not a damn second to think anything of it.

Leon suddenly realized why he got all philosophical towards the end of his dream, because it was just that, a dream. A fuckin' dream. The world hadn't ended, Harumaki wasn't trying to slowly end his life, Kazuichi wasn't a decent guy and he would lose everything to the stupid storm of everything he couldn't remember, including the fact he couldn't remember itself or accepting in the back of his head all of the probably-true crap about who he is because none of it would make sense to the pressured, panicked, pretty, pathetic pitcher-to-be-guitar-player in a world he knew damn well because he thought about it. There wasn't even a good way to say THAT, because any sense of fucking clarity was out the window with his breath. Was there any better way to say it? Probably fucking not with the shit he was spitting out right now. How about...

He did not learn his lesson. There we go, that works-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Filler"...an entire chapter of a dream sequence that literally ends telling you Leon didn't learn anything. Basically every interaction was meant to be twice as long, I wanted to better balance when Leon was focused on what was actually happening versus going on random tangents more, and generally it was full of stupid gags and more references to other stuff I know or like that doesn't belong. My logic was Leon is a teenager, and a popular one at that, so he probably hears about all sorts of stuff he barely knows, but subtly is not a thing I do. At all.
> 
> If nothing else, the next chapter should prove him wrong... maybe he did learn something after all. Also, Toko, I swear to god I'm doing something with Toko or my name's not CheerUpCrewcut... wait, I picked a stupid username for this website instead of my regular. Dammit. Also, wow, this is ONLY Chapter 7? I thought this was 8. God, I'm slow.


	8. Subsistence? Is that the word?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're a few days late for a short chapter. I planned for this to be very different, basically a FTE for Toko... that sorta happened, from certain points of view. If you squint. I'll use the idea another time. The next chapter will... come as it does, and edits on the last two chapters might come sometime in the next lifetime, I'm not sure if they're needed. Also, I'm probably changing Chapter 1's notes again. It's just tradition at this point. Also, I'll do something about the tags eventually.
> 
> This one... pulled from everything. The comments I've gotten, music and literature, probably even a bit from the current events. I'll specifically cite Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity", though, I probably went way overboard with the use of insane. We'll see, you can be the judge(s).

When Leon woke up, he was face down, pushing himself up from choking on his pillows like he was pushing away a haidresser trying to choke him from the neck. With that all being a dream, there wasn't any chance of Maki breaking off a piece of that Kit-Kuwata neck, but it felt real enough for the short period of time he forgot that minor little detail of what was REAL VERSUS FICTION.

O-Of course, he knew the whole time that it was a dream, it was the first thing he figured out with second being it was dark and third being Kazuichi is still stupid. St-Stupid… Stupid Kazuichi! If stupid Kazuichi could've just shut up about how fucked they were, he wouldn't have forgotten it was all dream, one that would've definitely turned into sunshine and rainbows if he held onto it any more, but that creamy, cotton candy dream of a nice sleep and a better dream was smashed by ear-splitting yelling from two stupid kids yelling at one another over stuff as small and insignificant like pieces of plankton, debating on what little microorganism of the two could walk better.

Kazuichi of all people just had to be someone he remembered so vividly... probably because he was just a copy-pasted recolor of himself. What was so different between these two kinds of idiot? Both were idiots, and that's all you need for a similarity! There were probably a lot of other differences, but if he couldn't even tell apart real from fiction who was to say that meant the dumbass kid could even tell apart a sharp-toothed, slow-witted looker from the man he started everyday facing in the mirror.

As a nice smile led to regular patrons staying regulars, Leon was reminded of another comparison he made yesterday. Not even yesterday, fucken… ten hours ago. Ten hours ago, if that, there were three different types of people you could dumb down into small little categories.

Not to say he was wrong about that, there were three types of people. Yep. Just three types of people, if you stripped away every little nuance for the sake of a comparison to stay sane. Content, tired people Maki, sick bastards like Kyoko or Monokuma, and desperate, sad angels like Kanon, are any of those labels accurate? More like did it actually matter to Leon in any damn American-measuring-system-measured amount which... yes, it did.

For one, it was three types of student, not three types of people, that he was thinking about earlier today. May as well have said "dumb, dumb and dumber" as the categories, they were all meant to be arbitrarylabels he blended together inside a platinum-plated drink shaker to describe him just because a killing, dangerous reality made even the right to breathe a hundred meter sprint, you better be the best of the best to make an idea that could stick. An idea like your own sense of self that stuck, giving you something you could hold onto like crazy to keep yourself from going insane, or else you'll just walk up to somebody, stab them, and leave like nothing happened.

Walk up to someone, stab them, then leave. Walk up, stab, leave! There wasn't any fucking way to run a fingerprint analysis, he was good, just make it simple! He… he as in anybody who would do that, a broad term not for him. If he murdered somebody, he would probably set up the most confusing contraption since the toaster, miss hiding all the obvious details, and then he would be dragged away and pelted to death by baseballs, while Kyoko gives him a disapproving stare instead of the little bit of empathy the other students could muster up at the horrific sight of pounded, bloody grade –C meat, fresh from Kuwata farm for juicy, mouth-watering burgers.

Expecting that Kyoko would even consider a warm, depressing feeling when thinking he died wasn't a mistake he would make in even his hypotheticals. Sayaka taught him pretty faces were the evilest. She probably even learned that lesson herself with what happened with him, but it still was certainly upsetting Leon what could be a calming smile on a smarter-than-he-was girl was in reality some shit smeared on an eggplant that was then stuck in the freezer instead of the fridge so that even thinking about something adjacent to the clothing store she goes to will ice you over harder than how they preserve your body to show the worst psychopaths in history for future generations if your fetish in life was torturous, gorey and involved cutting people up to eat them, replacing Harvester as the education tool of what sort of person to avoid.

For the damn record, at least, she definitely wasn't actually smarter than he was, she would crack eventually. There was no way in bright and sunny hell she would last forever. He was the goddamn psychopath misplaced in the freezer because his identity was stolen in a salon with how cool he was compared to the volcanic eruption spreading burnt vegetable ash all over the poor city of Pompeii. Leon was cool enough to remember something about history in the middle of what looked like a rampage across the room. Leon was fucking cool enough break down a door in random rage, and be stupid-lucky enough to have broke it in a way that would've otherwise needed a screwdriver to create unless you blew the door straight off the handle with the force of a race car, or a baseball that goes as fast as a race car, or the force of a hand that threw a baseball as fast as a racecar.

Kyoko also wouldn't be taking a life to begin with, so whether or not she'd ever crack was irrelevant. She wasn't staring at the purple vegetable in her mirror with a dream all about the dead at the front of her thoughts, sitting right there to tear her away from life and what was important to her out there, or ever really understanding what the hell happened in here.

At some point, Leon had unconsciously walked into the bathroom during his rant. A rant of nonsense, increasing and multiplying every second to make a thought stew with no end in sight or point to be. With a slightly more focused intent of self-awareness, Leon exited the bathroom as suddenly as he entered, not giving the man in the mirror even a single glance. He'd probably just see a cute little bitch the world would be thirsty over if they knew about her more than they did, framed perfectly to flash her killing looks and remind him of an awful feeling without the clear head to remember where it was from.

By how poorly baseball dickhead rushing out of his bathroom could sort everything out, he was now well aware the past day was a blur in a wonderful shade of illegible blue, like a bunch of notes played in a random order and called music for your RPG where your health is flesh and your magic was your determination and will. The miracle he had even an unclear view of himself, his dream, Kazuichi or Kyoko wasn't nearly enough for him to remember where his feelings came from. Gambler lolita impossible name could've cut off his dick and Makoto could've torn out all of his own organs for the black market to buy him a new one and he wouldn't even have the room to doubt it. There wasn't anything else he could remember clearly, sky high on a sunny, dreamy day.

Leon sat down, leaning against his bed and pulling his hands across his face, like those filthy, freaky things could clear up his vision. He stared up, praying to every god of debatable origins he heard other kids talk about if they would give him the gift of a simpler, clearer head.

His mind was still uncertain and mostly unaware, but he reeled in a few key parts of what was real. Sayaka died, an investigation occurred for her murder, he talked to Makoto and Kyoko, a trial happened, Makoto died, and everybody else immediately moved on. Junko made him a 3.5 star lunch because he was too busy holding off the urge to kill Toko, and he got to have another wonderful conversation with Monokuma. After that, he and Byakuya had a small fight on the stairs, and then Chihiro said something that sent him straight to here, the end of the path to insanity. The wrong woman in the right place makes a trainride of emotions that he didn't need any help reaching on his own, but a programmer breaking something while trying to fix something else left him stumbling to the bottom all the more effectively. A moment of instability was possible at any time, but killing games made the ball in the grief box double in size, the extra 20 centimeters Chihiro was missing went into making it easier to cause a meltdown.

That was a song title if he'd ever heard one. Up there with the greats like "Help I'm Drowning and Nobody Noticed Because Of How Hard They're Jamming", if he trimmed it down a bit like he should be able to trim down the time it was taking him to gather his bearings and leave his own room he'd have another song for his first album, aaaand the thoughts of an album brought him back to the doubt of Makoto's fresh, pulpy organs for sale, serving Leon up a fresh reminder of the sight before turning around and driving far away from the market to doubt.

He never needed answers like this. If something worked or happened, it just did. But this... THIS... he'd bought a new despair-flavored cereal, infecting him with food-poisoning doubt. He'd never faced a mechanical bear, or confinement from an unbelievable, fake tale of kidnapping and death. Not one ball he threw had ever planted into someone's skull, shattering it, or anything even close to the same bone-cracking sound like a sharp blade swinging to make a creaking floorboard out of a wrist. He didn't smash and swing and throw his fists like he was playing a game of baseball, breaking down walls or the only protection you could have behind a door, and he didn't take the simple steps of walking up to someone, stabbing them, and leaving.

Leon didn't believe it. He didn't even think about it. What a luxury earned just hours later than it would've ever been useful, to put no thought into anything, much less the simple tasks of standing in the place where he was and now facing execution. That was the only moment without doubt, and if it weren't for that moment, he wouldn't have had the chance to let Makoto show the untorn sheets that absolved him of any claims of being a killer.

Everything was straight and simple now. Straight and simple, but also unbelievable. A new world of unbelievable, an orderly unbelievable. Instead of the unbelievable that made Leon's mind slip into a swearing, disjointed, absolutely batshit crazy rambling three-course meal of broken thoughts, broken words and broken focus, it was the unbelievable that shut everything right up.

And if something was so unbelievable it silenced him, it couldn't be the goddamn truth. In no hell was he ever getting all chummy with Kazuichi, getting choked out by his favorite barber or passing up the chance to watch an old classmate of his beat the shit out of some maniac in a gas mask supported by a bunch of Monokuma-children, and in no hell was he ever the bears' blackened, stained, sinning stupid sucker of a student who gave into the need to kill for their... support... of... oneself?

Leon needed a dictionary... or a thesaurus, a word book. Finding an answer wasn't as essential as breathing, but neither was sanity if you wanted to argue about it. If it kept it him going, he was going to find a goddamn word for it. And just like that, the man in his mirror walked further away from giving himself a proper look, but if it kept him going, Leon didn't care how. He didn't care at all about what it took to get to just round two in the game of life and death.

He gently opened the door, walking his way back into the world of despair. A world that felt exactly the same on this side of the door as the other. Good. Something like a molded, changing, forgettable dream or the unimportant, hard to remember details and facts about reality were crushing, stinging, pains to be softened by cold, hard, and consistent. The laws of space and gravity, any set of undeniable facts and dictionary definitions made good shields against the wooden bats, youth-crushing elevators and golden swords of the swirling, changing, thoughts that were emotions.

Leon wasn't a poet, but he could put a thought together that sounded eloquent every once in awhile. It certainly sounded cool, so eloquent wasn't far off from there.

The hallway was as empty as a brain process that defined you as being, a brain process Leon had spent the last day in an rage over if he wasn't in the same, mindless despair he was now. Mindless despair was something entirely different and new, and it was almost a nice change of pace. Mindless despair... mindless despair was the opposite of accepting. If he shook is head and things felt a little different, there was something more to reality than that someone got stabbed, and he was somehow involved. He could just accept at face value that he was involved in something as bloody, insane and exciting as a murder, and that it was all his fault, but instead of accepting it, there was silence.

Acceptance and silence. Between acceptance and silence, Leon much preferred silence. If it was even right for there to be a killing game, it was right for there to be silence.

The blackened, oddly lit hall glowed neon through the dark, surrounding Leon as he left the killing school life's hotel. The hotel wasn't exactly well lit, but it was a league ahead of the gift of enlightenment that the dark, long corridor completely lacked. The hallways were always much darker, with dimmed lights that only illuminated each doorway to another room. It was the path he had to walk to get to his current end point, and that was the last thing about the path he had to think about before he took it.

In an undisturbed, focused state of mind, Leon forgot one of the most important things about the darkness of a path everyone walked along, back and forth and back, was that some people could creep up on you at any moment, accidentally or otherwise. "AAAAAAGH!"

"-GAAAAAAAH!" Toko jumped back, startled to high heaven from sudden screaming. "Wh-What the hell w-was hat for?"

In the crazy world he was living in, Leon couldn't deny or disbelief or doubt a few basic facts, one being the existence of the Ultimate Writer. "I could barely see you, do you know how dark it is in this hallway or are you blind?" If Toko was real, so was Monokuma, and Makoto, and Kyoko and Junko and a cold, empty Sayaka Maizono. Whether it was a logical fallacy. some other form of Leon being the new biggest idiot to wear the stupid crown, or even the truth, the fact remained that talking to Toko for even a moment dug up a world that was ignored for only a brief, wonderful fucking second, taken away and shoved up a stab wound to apply pressure.

"What do you think the g-gl-glasses are for, to make me look s-smart?" Toko didn't even give the intense, cold stare of an angry woman to Leon, not dignifying him with a damn thing. "I mean, I wouldn't be surprised, you look like you eat books instead of reading them."

"Yeah, I'm an idiot, we get it, WE GET IT." Everyone from himself to a mechanical bear agreed he was stupid. They were right! What fucking idiot confuses killing somebody to being hunted by a psychopath in a dystopian fantasy for one and the same fucking reality? "I'm a fucking idiot! It's a miracle I made it to middle school, it's a miracle I made it to highschool! Anybody with half a fucking brain can see I don't even have a fourth, you think I'm a stupid, useless waste of stress and resources who should've been the one who die." Toko took a step back, tensing up with an appealing, fearful face that looked almost attractive to an angry, stupid piece of shit. "So does Kyoko, so does Junko, so does Togami and Hina and EVERYONE ELSE. We all got the highlighted, underlined, italicized memo-!"

"Wh-What the hell d-did I do?" The little spectacled revolting black licorice tried to stand her ground, keeping her legs as steady as a mother's spaghetti, a perfect fit for her equally broken sentences. "I-I didn't think you d-did it at all! Don't go blaming me because somebody else was an idiot and thought it was you!"

"You're just saying that because you're afraid I'm gonna beat the shit outta ya!" Leon's teeth grinded together so harshly he heard a distinct crack, where ropes emerged to drag him back through to memory lane with an attacking popstar. That would probably be exactly what smashing someone's head in with a misaimed pitch would sound like, an endless, unmistakable pop that made Leon focus on his wrists, looking for broken, floppy hands to instead find firm, curled-up fists.

Leon stepped back himself, putting himself in Toko's shoes of the absolute horror of what the Ultimate Baseball Player might do. It would've been no different from walking up and taking a stab, if you didn't count that it would be messier, slower and unexpected. The wonder of being able to end a life so easily, just if you were angry enough. Or terrified enough.

"G-GET AWAY FROM M-M-ME!" Toko cried. Cried was a good way to describe it, to think about it. It was almost exactly that, an expression of fear, pain and grief... maybe even sadness. There was no "almost", it was as crying as Leon was responsible. "You... you damn ps-psychopath! You were a-about to hit m-me on the head! Were you g-g-going to show off th-those p-pitching skills of yours and throw a p-punch into m-my... m-my f-fucking head?!"

Leon didn't say anything, letting Toko do exactly as she wanted on her own, which was stand in place and let her thoughts pour out, dissolving into incomprehensible silence. By the time she'd lost her point to a quiet void of mangled thought, Toko was just as unmoving and quiet as he was. They finally both moved, letting their gazes meet. Leon was absolutely stunned by what he was looking at. If travelling without moving was possible, he'd done it in moving to a universe where Toko was giving a chance.

"Don't you have somebody out there waiting for you? Your cousin, right?" Toko started biting her fingernail, tearing it off like Leon tore through the thought he just made. Toko already gave him a fucking chance. After a moment of silence, she pointed a finger at the "You've probably gone insane

"I-I... I..." Leon thought about it. He thought about it long, and hard, on the straight and narrow path he switched from a road to walk to a tool for measuring and organizing everything in his mind. Every voice on the path, arranging his wack poetry just so, came to the same single conclusion.

He'd been so worried about himself, Kanon was practically an afterthought by now.

Everything was an afterthought to Leon Kuwata. He'd think about it after he made his decisions, and gotten the results he wanted. As it turns out, bringing afterthought itself to the forefront of his mind gave him a new result to reach for, which was trying to remain cool. "N-No. I was so scared from the last trial, that I thought I was dead. Ever since...

"Y-You haven't been thinking about that?" Yep. And that made him all the more of a horrifying creature. Not a monster, not a saint or an angel, not content or sadistic. Just absolutely appalling. Appalling like baseball practice or baseball injuries. Leon would personally call it "wacky", a fun little word for uncaring jesters just like him. "W-Wow... and I thought I had it bad."

When she wasn't angry, Leon could barely hear what Toko was saying. "What was that?"

"Forget about it." Toko demanded, with enough ferociousness to drive Leon away from the subject, but it just had Leon thinking about it more. Maybe Toko was thinking about how he was great for admitting it, at least, or that he was total scum for it. Or she drifted onto the subject of poorly-named foods and drinks, or her mind was on an idea for another story about a depressed lover who was forced to frame the object of their affection for their own safety.

Toko remained as quiet as Leon's mind stayed consistent, before suddenly walking away. Before she was even a step away, Leon's mind was already drifting somewhere entirely different. Exactly the same as it did when Monokuma first appeared, and the same as when he was faced with Kanon's safety questioned by a single, short video, or when faced with Sayaka Maizono and a Class Trial.

...No, it was different. It felt about as different as wearing shoes did to wearing wet socks, and that was pretty damn different from Leon's MANY experiences with that special training exercise under the insane Ultimate Coach.

Leon was able to casually discuss or think about a lot of things, even under the headmaster's black and white paws, but something changed. It wasn't Sayaka. It wasn't the vegetable or the lolita trying to get him hanged, or his dream. Was it Junko? Makoto? Toko? He

The best answer he had was it was just him, changing every five seconds on emotional whims. Emotional whims that would occasionally fall silent, sometimes even when he needed them to, stopping the scratching at every part of his brain just for making connections. "Hey, wait! Do you know a word for... like, supporting yourself?"

"Go pick up a thesaurus instead of using me to fill in gaps of your vocabulary." Toko spoke, without the extra hint of annoyance Leon was expecting. "Subsistence. The action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level."

"I actually came over this way to pick one up from the library." Leon revealed, remembering something else from earlier in the day with near-perfect clarity. "Thanks for saving me the trouble of havin' to find one."

"Were you writing a song or something?" Toko asked, speaking soft enough that he could barely hear. "You want to be the next Fall Out Boy or The Damned?"

"...Who?"

"Do you even know what gravity is?!" Toko yelled, running away from the fucking idiot who everyone wanted dead. Apparently, Toko was a nobody, and so was Leon himself. If she even counted, his cousin was probably a third nobody, but Leon wasn't worth damn enough to get that third nobody.

At least, maybe the him of two minutes ago would've thought that. Leon was a lot of things, and there were a lot of things about him. That was simple and clear enough, at least, in a mess of still confusing feelings, like the mixed signals Toko was giving him, or what the hell even mattered to him.

But... considering he had a dream about the suffering of other people like Kazuichi, he had more to worry about than just subsistence.

Whether he would do anything about it, though, was another story entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutouts to myself for starting out this story so differently from where I am now I have no idea what I'm doing.
> 
> Leon is... weird to write. Half of the time I feel he's perfect, the other half it feels just like I'm writing myself talking to a friend or something in an extended gag rather than it feels like I'm writing a story with somebody else's character. This chapter... mainly, I think it's just a very different take on Leon's ability to be unfocused and easily emotionally fucked-up by his own insane ramblings and thoughts. I should probably make him more chill, but it's a slow process to get cool after being nearly executed for a murder you might have commit. Hypothetically.


End file.
